Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, I had not intended to intervene on this. I have two brief points. First, I know that I shall be told that this is a ferociously anti-European thing to say, but it is emphatically not intended to be that. Am I the only person in this House, or indeed in the other House, who always feels slightly uncomfortable when a Government, of whichever party, stand up and say, ““This is something we’ve absolutely got to do, whether we like it or not””? There comes a point where you question the extent to which that is compatible with a sovereign Parliament. It is a always a bad argument, and I have seen this on a number of other occasions, if an elected Member of the other House has to go back to their constituents and say, ““This is something we have no choice whatsoever about; this is a matter that’s been decided somewhere else””. That is a weak argument and I know that my noble friend did not deploy it; he addressed the actual merits of the case. That is just an observation. Secondly, I am sure that there is an answer to this, but I am simply not versed enough to know it. Given that there are many other countries where I understand there is an unfettered right to vote in general elections, the practicalities of exercising that right in a meaningful way seem very difficult. A normal constituency campaign involves access to constituents and potential constituents if you are a candidate. It involves meetings, if necessary, and canvassing. I am sure that these practical questions have been asked long before I raised them in this debate, but I would like to know what the practical answers are.