Member

I wish to bring things back to a narrower focus which relates to the question of a constitutional conference. My noble friend did not draw a picture of what a constitutional conference looks like. We have a picture of what a royal commission looks like, which my noble friend Lord Swire has given support to. We had constitutional conferences both before the Parliament Act 1910 and before the Parliament Act 1948. They consisted of a series of meetings between senior representatives of the parties in the Commons and in the Lords to try to find an agreed way forward on the issues, which in 1910 related to the powers of the House of Lords and in 1948 related to the Labour Party’s concern that while it was in power in the House of Commons it was deeply underrepresented in your Lordships’ House.