Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, for putting that point to me. I suppose that the fundamental point that I am trying to make is this: without some proper digest of both the parts, it is very unlikely that we will come to a satisfactory conclusion. In that, I see that we are broadly in agreement, although I do not want to put words into the noble Lord’s mouth. Were it to be the case that we did not try to pursue these arguments as convincingly as we could, with the best arguments and evidence available to us, all that would happen is that as this went through, people would look at the Opposition, or indeed those sitting on the government Benches and Cross-Benches who may agree with these general propositions—I have an instinct that there may be many people who are afraid of the unintended consequences of all this—and say, ““How was it that they allowed all that to happen without the most thorough exploration of its consequences for the people of the United Kingdom?””. That is why I myself would have welcomed it, even if it had meant that the debate had gone on longer, if noble Lords on all sides of the House had engaged in this debate. It is precisely these things that I want to understand because I want the best for this House and certainly for the other place, and I want the combination of the two Houses to deliver what the people of the United Kingdom want. I fear that we will now end up with exactly what they will not want. I get back to my apology, in a way: I do apologise but, having not spoken, I hope that noble Lords will understand that I feel very passionate about these possible consequences. I suspect that there are a good many people in your Lordships’ House who feel the same anxiety and can see this calamity unfolding, without any real arrest of its process or the discussion that we really need in order to get those questions right. I thank noble Lords for allowing me the opportunity to put that point.