Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I will come on to the hon. Gentleman’s new clause, which has its problems, although, as he will hear, I believe that it merits further discussion. We believe that the best course of action is to follow through the spirit of Government amendment No. 46. However, that amendment needs improvement to allow the veto to be exercised by either of the Houses or by Committees. I shall now deal with the point made by the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) about new clause 14, as I know that he wants me to address it. The Liberal Democrats’ new clause 14 seeks to grant the House a statutory veto over orders introduced by virtue of this Bill. It suggest a novel alternative to relying on the recommendations of a Select Committee, already burdened and restricted in its freedom of action by the factors, as set out in the Government amendments, that must be considered when rejecting a draft order. That alternative is that a parliamentary veto may be exercised by a quorum of at least 10 per cent. of the House. The new clause also contains a safeguard of its own, in that those exercising their veto must encompass more than a single parliamentary party. That would prevent a single political group from rejecting the Government’s measures on purely partisan grounds. It has been suggested that an order introduced under the Bill, which, if we are to believe the Government’s words, would relate only to deregulation and Law Commission proposals, should be stalled by a parliamentary veto only if it is controversial. If that is the case, the order should be presented to Parliament in the form of primary legislation. I agree that new clause 14 would in practice mean that only controversial measures would be vetoed, and I understand the spirit of it. However, it goes too far by setting a precedent in other areas of procedure. Issues such as what should be a relevant percentage and entrenching minority rights would need a much wider review.