Lord Neill of Bladen: I wonder if-
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I have one comment to make on the text of the amendment. Just to have a report for one year seems such a limited objective. If it is worth doing at all, I do not understand why there is no language allowing for continuity. It was said that the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, was providing for that. However, the actual language is: "Within a year of commencement... the Bank of England...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I should like to make a few observations about the amendment. We are at Committee stage of the Bill. While it is passing through your Lordships' House there has been an enormous scandal about the fixing corruptly of the LIBOR rate by Barclays over, I understand, a period of years-a practice in which it is possible that other banks took part. They have thereby done enormous damage to...
Lord Neill of Bladen: Will the noble Lord, Lord McColl of Dulwich, say that his amendment is essential in relation to the directive? In other words, if his amendment were forgotten about or did not exist, would the Bill contain provisions that have the same effect, or are his provisions critical to the UK's ability to carry out its duties under the 2011 directive?
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, we should take this opportunity, which follows the vote on a previous occasion when the House by a majority voted in favour of the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford. We now have a revised and better version of his amendment. But it has not been treated with enormous respect in the other place, which had a debate but no vote. We have had a letter from the noble...
Lord Neill of Bladen: Is the noble Lord, Lord Empey, contemplating circumstances where there would be referenda in other countries than Scotland? He said Parliaments, their representatives and the people would have to make up their own minds in their own countries. That was English people, the Welsh Assembly and so on. Supposing that these problems arise, did he envisage by the phrase "another route" that there...
Lord Neill of Bladen: An obvious difficulty arises once you get into consulting constituents of other countries-England, Wales and Northern Ireland-which is: in what order do you take the referendum? What effect will it have if, we assume, in Scotland the referendum is passed with acclaim but other countries, such as England and Wales, say, "No, it is very damaging and we are against it"?
Lord Neill of Bladen: Someone said that the question, or part of the question, might be, "Do you consider the referendum to be legal?". That would be a fatal question to put. It is an extraordinarily difficult legal question, and there is no reason why the ordinary voter should have a view that is entitled to any weight on that. However, he will certainly be asked whether he wants to have one country or two, in...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, perhaps I may add a word to what the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, said. It seemed to me that he put his finger absolutely on the point. We are faced with a decision on whether the rule of law is being complied with in the proceedings on this amendment. It seems to me-and I have heard it from every speaker-that it is an indefensible provision. It is bound to have a terrible effect on a...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I would have wanted to vote for the noble Lord's first amendment, but I can see that there are difficulties and that maybe more time for thought is required. It is perfectly true, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, said, that a report has been produced that emphasises the sovereignty, as it were, of the human rights convention, which intrudes-I mean that in a good sense-into earlier...
Lord Neill of Bladen: Another sanction would be that if a settlement has been made, the money is irrecoverable. Under a void agreement, insurers might get their money back again, but you could have a provision expressly about "money paid by way of settlement", because a claimant may not find out until later that he has been swindled.
Lord Neill of Bladen: I support this amendment. The practice that it outlaws seems to be absolutely disgraceful, with an insurance company being paid by its own side-by the defendant-and then approaching the plaintiff to try to do a cheap deal with him for the benefit of the defendant. It seems to me that the conflict of interest is so gross that it ought not to be permitted at all. I am a little surprised by the...
Lord Neill of Bladen: I refer to the letter from the Scottish judges asking for additional clauses to be put into the Scotland Bill. Where does that fit into the Minister's programme? How do we handle that?
Lord Neill of Bladen: On Paragraph 19(6), the Minister said that the word deliberate would not cover negligence. What is a deliberate act intended to cover? Most people, when they do things, do them deliberately. Is that what it means, or anything beyond that?
Lord Neill of Bladen: I make one comment on the amendments, which also goes to the Government's fundamental philosophy, with which we all agree, that patients should be told about their condition and kept fully informed. My experience in recent years has been visiting hospitals and wards with elderly people in them. You cannot but become aware of the inability of a lot of the patients to understand what it is they...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords,I wish to add my view. I entirely agree with what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, moved by way of an amendment. I fully support that and I also support the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. The basic question is one of justice: where should the order be made that leads to these deprivations of liberty? I have been told that you would have to be in a...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I am number 82 in the list of speakers in the debate and I agree with my predecessor who has just spoken that everything that has to be said has already been said. I should like to summarise my views by saying that I agree with what the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, said yesterday and what the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, said today. I also agree strongly with the statement made...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, expressed the view that there should be an opportunity for parliamentary review when the Minister has decided that the situation is one in which he wants to make an order. Imagine the situation; there has already been consultation with whoever are the proper people to be consulted and, in the light of that, the Minister has concluded that it would be...
Lord Neill of Bladen: No, my Lords. The word "must" is already in Clause 11(2), and attention has been drawn to that fact. There is no "must" in line 3 on that page, which is where there ought to be a requirement. That is what the amendment is dealing with.
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, will the Minister comment on the position of the Supreme Court? So far he has talked about government action, but the Supreme Court said in 2009, in a case called Horncastle, that it can decide not to follow a decision of the court in rare cases where that court has failed to "appreciate or accommodate" particular aspects of our domestic process. In such a case the Supreme Court can...
