Government of Wales Bill

The Secretary of State will doubtless reflect on the view of Lord Richard, who said in giving evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee that it would be a devil of a job to get these orders through the House of Lords. So the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price) makes through his amendment is a proper one. Secondly, when I challenged the Secretary of State on this issue at a conference in Cardiff, he said that he would invoke the Parliament Act to ensure that this problem did not occur. So it was on his mind then and it is on ours now; so far, we see no way around it. My hon. Friend quoted earlier from an excellent speech by the Secretary of State. During that speech, he quoted Tony Benn, the former Member for Chesterfield, who said:"““The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.””"