Member

The noble Lord, Lord Newby, did not say that consensus was not possible, but was rather disillusioned about the attempts to get to consensus. I would have liked to have consensus; we tried that with the Grocott Bill. I am open to discussions with noble Lords, but the backdrop to that has to be a guarantee that this House behaves in a sensible and proper way when dealing with legislation and respects the existing conventions of this House, which are all-important. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, that he would have one advantage if he was not a Member of your Lordships’ House: he would be able to vote in elections and could vote for or against the successor of the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, but I appreciate that he does not want to take that opportunity.