My Lords, I am grateful to all Members who have contributed to this debate. I wish that we had had a general debate of this nature rather earlier in the process on this Bill. The central point is that my
noble friend has just said that he does not agree with our solution. He does not appear to agree with that of the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, either, but he seems to recognise that some solution is necessary. That leaves us in a most extraordinary situation. The Government agree that this is unfinished business, yet they have produced no solution. I am afraid that that is an unsatisfactory situation.
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The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, has proposed what is to my mind a perfectly acceptable way in which we might proceed. I am not saying that it is necessarily the only way, but it also chimes very much with this report. I wonder what would have happened if this report had appeared tomorrow. Your Lordships would have been left completely unadvised of the current situation of the Standards Committee, which is absolutely critical to the recall Bill. I am concerned that we are in a really difficult situation. There is a general feeling around the House, particularly from those who have served in the other place, that we are in danger of putting the Standards Committee in a very invidious situation. The noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, has made that point herself. The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, is in a minority in saying that he opposes an increased lay role in the committee, but the committee itself is very much in support of that. So there is a serious danger that, if this section of the Bill survives unamended, the pressures on the Standards Committee will be immense.
My noble friends on the Front Bench have not served in the other place, but I want to let them into a little secret. I hope that they will not be too shocked. Sometimes the decisions in the other place are affected by partisan party politics, and we are in danger of handing to the committee a yet more formidable problem. In those circumstances, I appeal to my noble friends to accept that this is unfinished business and to agree to re-examine the role of the committee before Third Reading, not least in the light of this extremely important debate. In the hope that they are prepared to do this, in the mean time I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.