Member

I am also, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, incredibly sad about what it says about this House. I also care deeply about the role this House plays in our democracy. We may not have been democratically elected individually, but we play a very important part in the democratic process. Sitting here today, I am more and more concerned that we have not done that most fundamental democratic thing, which is to vote. I worry that we are not settled as a community here and that we have unfinished business, not for many more hours of debate—because we are kidding ourselves if we think anyone will change their view as a result of our hours of debate—but to settle what our actual conclusions are, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, said. I know that I will upset a number of noble friends on my Benches, but I have been sitting here thinking, “Has all this debate really been designed to make the Bill safer or has it just been designed to talk it out?”