Business of the House — Motion on Standing Orders
5:00 pm
Lord Strathclyde (Leader of the Opposition In the House of Lords, Parliament; Conservative)
The noble Lord simply does not understand where we now are. There are only a few hours left of this Parliament. If the Government continue to leave the clauses in, not only will we not get this Bill but we will not get any Bills, because the issue is so controversial, not least among people in the noble Lord's party. The party of government has quite rightly decided to drop the clauses on proportional representation to save the rest of the Bill. I support the Government on that. There are also one or two minor parts-although I am sure that my noble friend Lady Gardner of Parkes does not think that they are minor for her-with which we would agree. For our part, we are alive to the mood and the will of the House, as I hope the Government will be, too.