Lord Clement-Jones (LD)

I thank the Minister for her response and the noble Lords, Lord Vaizey and Lord Markham, for their contributions. I cannot help feeling that the approach to this by the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, is coloured by his history as a Minister. I can understand that because I saw the frustration within Ofcom over the type of judicial review. It was a particular type of judicial review: it was not a full merits-based appeal, but it allowed merits to be considered as part of the judicial review process. Subsequently, that was changed, which has probably calmed the way in which appeals are carried on. However, in this particular case, although he said that he was not sighted as to the secrecy aspects of this, it was quite interesting to hear what the noble Lord, Lord Markham, had to say. He started by saying that he supported the amendment, then—rather coloured, I think, by the response of the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey—he did a bit of a U-turn halfway through what was a speech originally written in support. I am sure that he knows in his heart that this is the right one. Really, the argument in this case is expediency versus justice. I think that choosing expediency, especially in the light of what the Constitution Committee had to say, would be extremely inadvisable. I was encouraged by the fact that the Minister is producing a memorandum in response to the Constitution Committee; we all wait with bated breath for when that arrives. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.