Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is absolutely right. Such statutory constraints on the exercise of a Select Committee’s discretion are unique, but it is clear that, as the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) said earlier, most, if not all, of the good reasons for assessing that an order was inappropriate for the accelerated procedure would be declared ultra vires. We would have the absurd prospect that a Select Committee decision was justiciable—reviewable—on the basis that it had not followed criteria set down in statute in reaching its decision. When has a Select Committee ever been bound by statute, and justiciable in the courts, in the exercise of its discretion? The suggestion is preposterous.