Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)

I have huge respect for the noble Lord and other colleagues who serve in this House from all parts of our United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland and Scotland. I accept his points about the inconvenience caused to colleagues. My door remains open, and I will happily meet the noble Lord next week to discuss what we do in future. I do not come here to annoy and aggravate Members of the House, but I feel that at the moment I am doing just that. That is not my intention. I love the House and I want it to work well. I remain open to any ideas and suggestions that noble Lords might have. People want to use government time but, while I am the Government’s business manager and we have to get the Government’s business through, I am also conscious of party debates and Select Committee reports. I know how important Thursdays are to colleagues, so it is very difficult. But my door is always open to any colleague to come and discuss any further ideas about how we can move this forward. I am very sorry for the inconvenience to noble Lords today.