Member

Amendment 119 would seek to defer the commencement of other provisions in the Bill until the statement of strategic priorities under Clause 5 has been laid and approved before Parliament, and Amendment 128 would defer commencement of other provisions in the Bill until the expiry of the 40-day period referred to in Amendment 52 from the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. We would be worried that this, in effect, would hinder our ability to act as quickly as we wish. However, I have listened very carefully to the debate, and I respond directly to the noble Earl, Lord Russell: we are obviously considering carefully the Constitution Committee report on the Bill and are committed to appropriate parliamentary oversight, but this is without commitment, and we also think there are very strong arguments for the way the Bill has been constructed at the moment.