Law Commission Bill [Lords]

I hear my hon. Friend, and in a sense it is incredible that the provision is not already in the Bill. On the other hand, we are talking about something that is technical and bureaucratic, because the Law Commission is ultimately a creature set up by and accountable to the Government. So why do we need new legislation to set up a protocol whereby the commission and the Government can operate and a system that is designed to bring pressure to bear on the Government, to whom the commission is already accountable, to implement and take action on commission reports? If we had proper, joined-up government that was not so bureaucratic and really got on with things, we would not need all that. The Bill emanates from a proposal by the Lord Chancellor in early discussions on the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. He is an expert, as are many members of the Government, on producing vessels that appear to be full but are in fact empty. People get really excited and think, "This is a really radical change for the better," but when they look at the vessel they see that it contains nothing. The Law Commission decided that the vessel was—to carry on the metaphor—beached, following the Government's decision not to go ahead with the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, and after I and the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), the promoter of the Bill before us, had spent long hours on the Joint Committee considering the draft Bill. The Government did not do anything about it, so the commission thought, "Let's pick this gem out of the draft Bill and make it the subject of separate legislation." The Bill before us therefore started with Law Commission supporters in the other place. They proposed it, saying, "Let's take this nugget forward." Little did they realise that, far from being a diamond, that nugget was totally worthless—not even as valuable as a piece of costume jewellery. Now that we have the Bill, I am trying with my amendments to give it a little value—at auction probably not much, but a bit. It certainly does not have any value at the moment. I have spoken to people who are involved with the Law Commission, and I know that some, the more excitable ones, are really excited about the Bill.