Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Some were, but many more were from Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. I have no complaint about that, but I had the same desire that the noble Lord has to get the Bill through. To enable us to do that, many hours were spent in arriving at compromises. That is the significant difference. I would have wished it to proceed faster, as the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, wishes this to do, but it was a plain fact of life that if we wanted this Bill to succeed we had to listen carefully to the Opposition’s arguments and, in certain circumstances, be prepared to arrive at a compromise. That is what has changed the atmosphere with regard to this Bill. You know that you have the power and you do not want to compromise in any way whatever. It does not matter what has been suggested; however marginal it has been, there has been no attempt whatever to reach a compromise. If the Government are going to suggest that the Opposition are somehow doing something out of the ordinary, they should examine their own actions and their own attitude towards this House. I believe that that is fundamentally important. We all know that, whichever way we want to reform the House, one attraction of the House of Lords is that it is a place where there has been reasoned debate and an ability to persuade a Government to change their mind and accept amendments. That is what has been missing during the course of this debate. It is unfortunate that the noble Lord, Lord McNally, is not here. I do not want to accuse him of making threats, but I will say what I would say when I got a bit agitated when trying to resolve a dispute with my kids—they are young adults now—just chill out. I cannot help feeling that he ought to take that advice, because I do not think that that has helped the discussion in the Chamber. I think that the Opposition have been perfectly reasonable in dealing with a Bill on which we believe there could be compromises. It could be taken in two parts if there was a willingness on the Government’s part to consider that, or to consider any amendments or compromise. Although I do not necessarily support these individual amendments, I thank both my noble friends who have tabled them for giving us the opportunity to have this debate and for me to be able to participate.