Member

The detail matters. I want how this legislation may operate to be determined here in Parliament, with lots more on the face of the Bill; that is often your Lordships’ approach on government Bills. Leaving lots of this to unamendable secondary legislation is not appropriate. More importantly, this change should largely be in primary legislation, or else we will also end up with legal rulings and case law taking us down various paths. It is a well-established principle that, apart from with human rights violations, primary legislation is not overturned by the courts, but that is certainly not the case for secondary legislation. It is important that when we discuss these matters, we also discuss the issues on the Floor of the House, because that matters when it comes to court cases. There should not just be conversations offline, in rooms elsewhere, not being recorded by civil servants, covering all these other things that could potentially be used in future deliberations.