Member

I apologise if, in responding to the lengthy debates in Committee, I did not respond specifically to the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Lympne. I think the point he was asking me to come back on was why a commitment to retaining hereditary Peers that was made 25 years ago is not being kept today. One Parliament does not bind another, and that decision was taken then. It would have been better had decisions and actions been taken more quickly, but that did not happen. One of the reasons I am proposing the Select Committee route—which could be prior to, or with, legislation, or we could do something ourselves—is that, when a long period of time elapses and new people come in, new commitments are made and new Parliaments are elected, it is very easy for these things to happen. We need to move more quickly and avoid the very problems that have caused him concern.