Member

When it comes to Report, the right way forward is surely to proceed in the same way as in Committee: by agreement. But this is not what has happened. So far from pursuing compromise, the Government have unilaterally tabled a Motion requiring, before consideration on Report has even begun, that the House, contrary to the specific firm guidance of the Companion, must sit in the mornings. Then, after doing that, they unleashed a storm of press releases declaring that the Bill would be rewritten. Then, after the media were briefed, the House will want to be informed that scores of new amendments to the Bill—67, as I have said—were tabled, including major new powers for the Secretary of State to override local councils that refuse planning applications, and depriving local communities of due process where their villages are to be flooded for new reservoirs. In normal circumstances, such far-reaching measures might well justify consideration under Committee rules, not Report rules.