Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill

Moved by

Lord Norton of Louth

1: Clause 2, page 1, line 6, after “Her Majesty’s” inse...

My Lords, the Government have a manifesto commitment to get rid of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act...

My Lords, the House is indebted to the noble Lord for elucidating this issue and tabling the amen...

My Lords, I agree with much of what the noble Lord, Lord Beith, said and with the amendment table...

My Lords, we are very much indebted to the noble Lord for his background in this matter. It is im...

My Lords, if I may intervene in this debate, I think it is still important that what used to be t...

My Lords, I agree with all those who have said that my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth has done...

May I just ask, what would be an improper dissolution?

I do not think I could make a list of the possibilities. One can conceive of them, but we trust t...

My Lords, I intervene briefly because this is a very interesting debate and I am grateful to the ...

My Lords, the answer to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, may be that, if something w...

My Lords, I rise to speak only briefly. This short debate shows how, although we have five groups...

My Lords, I thank all those who contributed to what has been an important and interesting debate....

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to everyone who has spoken. It has given rise to a very valuabl...

Moved by

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

2: Clause 2, page 1, line 9, at end insert “subject...

My Lords, quite a lot of what we will discuss this evening is how far we need to put into statute...

My Lords, the amendment in my name and those of the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, and t...

My Lords, I listened carefully to the noble Lord, Lord True, and he is right that this is an impo...

My Lords, I am very pleased to contribute to this debate. I signed Amendment 3 together with the ...

Perhaps I may ask my noble friend about a situation where there was a hung Parliament, where the ...

There are many circumstances in which crises can emerge. There are arguments that cut both ways. ...

This is an issue which divided the Joint Committee. The view expressed by the noble and learned L...

My Lords, I had added my name to Amendment 2 in the name of noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire,...

My Lords, I do not often agree with the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, as he knows, but I ...

My Lords, I feel part of an endangered species: a Cross-Bencher who fully supports this governmen...

My Lords, before I comment specifically on the amendment in the name of the noble and learned Lor...

My Lords, like everybody else who has spoken in the Committee so far today, I share the objective...

My Lords, I put my name to this amendment for the reasons given by the noble and learned Lord, Lo...

My Lords, I am very puzzled by this debate. There have been words used such as “inappropriate”, “...

I am glad to assist, but I would like to ask the noble Lord a question. I have already explained ...

The noble Lord is masked.

I am sorry. God, I will be glad when we get rid of those for good.

The noble Lord, Lord She...

I am very pleased that the noble Lord asked that question, because the debates this evening have ...

I shall seek to answer the noble Lord’s question. I go back to February 1974. Imagine that Harold...

I just think that if you gave the House of Commons the opportunity to veto it, and the Government...

My Lords, the noble Lord asked for an example of where a Prime Minister might illegitimately ask ...

My Lords, I have a very vivid recollection of Harold Wilson’s problem when he was elected with le...

My Lords, this has been a long and really interesting discussion, and it sums up the very reason ...

My Lords, I thank all those who have spoken in what has rightly been a lengthy debate. Perhaps my...

My Lord, if the Minister is going down the path of history, can he please address the specific po...

My Lords, I am coming on to that, as I just said to the House I would. You can look at those circ...

My noble friend must address the point. The point is that if the requirement were not what the Fi...

My Lords, there is a conditional in that: a “would”. I believe that people must be presumed to in...

My Lords, I briefly point out that the definition of “Prorogation” that the Minister has just giv...

Tabled by

Lord Judge

3: Clause 2, page 1, line 9, at end insert—

“(1A) The powe...

My Lords, it is rather fun to be clothed in the costume of a revolutionary who is about to tear d...

Moved by

Lord Norton of Louth

4: Clause 3, page 1, line 17, leave out “or purported e...

My Lords, I shall also speak to my other two amendments in this group. The amendments would ensur...

My Lords, I added my name to the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, ...

My Lords, the Committee has shown in the debate on this Bill so far that there is common ground t...

My Lords, I shall disagree with the noble Lord who has just spoken by opposing the inclusion of C...

My Lords, with a Supreme Court judge, the chairman of the most recent inquiry into the workings o...

My Lords, my core concern regarding this group of amendments is for the future generation of judg...

My Lords, I will speak only on Clause 3 stand part and not on the more detailed amendments, becau...

The noble Baroness and I agree that the circumstances in which this situation arises are unthinka...

We have it because it is just possible that the courts could find a way in. We have seen them get...

My Lords, if we are talking about our tried and tested constitution, we should remember that in t...

The noble Lord says that the clause does not restore the status quo. Does it follow that, in his ...

I find it hard to imagine a situation in which the power of Dissolution would be used in the way ...

My Lords, I would like to think that the Minister will find this argument conclusive. If he had a...

My Lords, I have been listening to this debate and it has been extremely interesting. I will not ...

My Lords, in this debate I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with almost every spea...

My Lords, I will certainly seek to do so. I do not wish to pre-empt the Committee in any way. We ...

I am sorry to interrupt the Minister, and I am grateful for the detail that he is going into. I a...

My Lords, as noble Lords know, I am a lay man. I have read out the legal advice that I have been ...

My Lords, I suspect that those words are sufficient for lawyers, but I think the Minister’s under...

My Lords, I seek to put into the record the points put to me by those who argue and maintain that...

I want to clarify something. Clearly, one reason to include the word “purported” is to deal with ...

I heard what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, and the noble Lord, Lord Beith, said and I wa...

This may be an observation intended to help the Minister. Since the Bill was drafted, the Judicia...

I will come to that particular piece of legislation—definitely—since it has been raised. To compl...

My Lords, I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Beith, that it has been a very good debate ...

Moved by

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

7: Clause 4, page 2, line 2, leave out “If it has n...

My Lords, before I speak to Amendments 7 and 9, I want to say one or two things about the conditi...

My Lords, I have found the debate fascinating today. I thank the Minister for the detailed respon...

My Lords, I very much enjoyed the speech of my noble friend, for whom—I hope he will allow me to ...

My Lords, I rise briefly, if only to remind your Lordships’ House that the Labour Chief Whip, the...

I thank noble Lords; I am very grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Lord Roo...

I beg leave to withdraw the amendment, noting that we may return on at least one of these amendme...

Moved by

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

10: Clause 6, page 2, line 13, leave out subsection...

My Lords, the purpose of the two amendments in this group is to draw attention to recommendations...

My Lords, I very much agree with the noble Lord about the need for a revision of the Cabinet Manu...

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Norton, that it does not have to be agreed by Parliam...

I just want to say how much I enjoyed my noble friend’s speech. I very much agree with his points...

My Lords, I think that we have had a slightly longer and more interesting discussion on this than...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, has frequently looked forward to that fabled day when the...

My Lords, the question really is: where are these documents and when are they going to be publish...