Parliamentary Standards Bill

What the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, has said is very interesting. I have already spoken once on the clause stand part, but the way in which the debate has moved on has raised in me another thought. I agree completely that the Clause 8 that we now have is a vast improvement on the Clause 8 that we had earlier this morning—and thank goodness for that. However, there now seem to be two clear views on the offence that we have created. The first is that this is tough action by the Government, dealing with these terrible Members of Parliament who have misbehaved, and they need this offence with a new imprisonable penalty. Then noble Lords such as the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, say that this is completely unnecessary and that, far from looking tough, it could actually look rather weak by allowing MPs to be prosecuted with a lesser penalty. The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, gave the impression that he favoured the Government’s view rather than that of the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy. I have no idea how the public will view this. I expect that they will be as mystified as I am, so I am looking forward to hearing what the noble Baroness has to say. Perhaps she might tell us: is this all simply a matter of presentation to the general public?