I am increasingly puzzled by the Minister’s stance. Leaving aside his broad concerns with the general thrust of the way that the Bill is drafted, the principles behind clause 4 are incredibly straightforward. The Minister and the Government opposed the motion proposed by the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash) that the House should be sovereign. Similarly, they seem to be opposing something that is as plain as the nose on your face. Of course it is right that the citizens of the United Kingdom have the right to see how proposed changes to the law will affect them, and that Members of the House of Commons have the right to see how proposed changes to the law will affect their constituents. To deny or gainsay those two principles fundamentally undermines the purpose of having a House of Commons. Of course those things are right.

If the Minister chooses to vote against the clause, he will be saying that every citizen of the United Kingdom does not have the right to see how proposed changes to the law will affect them. Of course they do; obviously, they do. As a Member of Parliament, he must recognise that they do. His argument against the clause was that he could not quite work out how the Secretary of State would conform to the terms of the clause. He said that it would be very difficult: would they do it in a White Paper? Would they do it in the explanatory notes? No doubt that can be sorted out down the road. Surely we can find a way in which the Secretary of State could comply?

For the Minister to say that he is uncertain about how the Secretary of State will comply and that that is a good reason for voting against our constituents’ knowing what is happening in this place is bizarre. I therefore challenge the Minister. He has made his overall opposition to the Bill plain by voting against clauses and has been  humiliatingly defeated on three separate occasions so far. Her Majesty’s Government have not taken such a beating in recent times. Despite the Minister’s opposition to other parts of the Bill, surely he can see that clause 4 is about an absolutely straightforward and basic principle of democracy. I hope he will find it in his heart to support what the hon. Lady has proposed.