The Senior Deputy Speaker

Mr Lords, those were two interesting comments. I would obviously also want to take this opportunity to thank the noble Lord, Lord Watson of Invergowrie, and his committee for undertaking a very key part of our committee work. I say to the noble Lord and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, that I specifically said that the committee wanted to have this as a trial. The intention behind all this rationale, when we as a committee looked at it, was in no sense to stifle scrutiny—indeed, it was to give Peers greater certainty about timing. We had had a number of observations about the difficulty of this issue. It is, as I say, for a trial. In fact, I know from chairing the committee that at no point did any of us see this as a route to—to use the words of the noble Baroness—shutting down debate. It is very important that these matters are properly scrutinised. As this is one of my passing and final shots as Senior Deputy Speaker, I would say that whenever I have spoken to the House, it has almost unanimously felt that we should all speak succinctly and to the point and not overstress your Lordships with lengthy contributions. In this trial, we all need to ensure that there is proper scrutiny, yes, but that it is done in a way that is conducive to the whole spirit of having these debates in the terms I have described. On that basis, and with the points made by noble Lords, I hope that your Lordships will approve the committee’s report.