Clause 1 - Purpose
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
1:00 pm
David Heath (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Leader of the House, Law Officers (Constitutional Affairs); Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I fear that the hon. Gentleman is applying logic to the matter. It is quite clear from the way in which the Minister has produced his arguments that logic is not a quality with which he is familiar. It is not a funny matter; the Bill proposes the most fundamental change possible to our constitution, and it has been put forward under the guise of a deregulatory Bill.
We have said many times that we have no problem with a Bill that genuinely deals with deregulatory issues, or even with the intentions that the Minister has explained as his purpose behind part 1 of the Bill. We have a problem, however, with the fact that the words in the Bill do not correspond with what the Minister says are his intentions when he is being coherent. That is why clause 1 cannot stand part of the Bill in its present form.
Alison Seabeckrose—