Scotland Bill

My Lords, I did not expect to be on my feet at 10 o'clock at night contributing to the debate on this amendment. The issue that has raised its head in our discussions in this Committee over the course of the day is the apparent failure to organise its affairs in a way that is at least predictable if nothing else. I will not report all the conversations that I have had because apparently it would be a breach of the protocol of the usual channels. I am not part of the usual channels, although I have been dragged into them repeatedly. I have tried to get a predictable order into the way in which these matters are dealt with so that people could have that communicated to them. Over the course of the day—as, indeed, over the course of this Committee—I have had clear understandings that matters would be dealt with in a particular way only for them to be changed, sometimes within minutes, sometimes within hours. There was a flurry of activity just before 10 o'clock, which was far too little too late, in an endeavour to manage the timing of affairs in such a way that would be respectful not only to the contributions that needed to be made but to those who serve and support this House and your Lordships and that would allow them to make sense of the way in which this work is being done. I have now given up, by and large, trying to reach any kind of agreement on how matters can be dealt with, and I am extremely disappointed that my best endeavours have not been able to introduce some sort of sense into the proceedings. It was my experience in another place that if there were agreements and people stuck to them, and they were communicated throughout the House, then, by and large, we could control the business. I am defeated by the way in which business is organised in this House. I have tried to achieve that repeatedly and it has been a great disappointment to me. Turning quickly to the amendment because of the time—and, because of the rules of the House, I understand that this time of itself generates another momentum in this House that is unwelcome—I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Forsyth for his comments and for the amendment.