Tuesday 7 March 2017

A Day of Struggle


Today the House of Lords will proceed to the Report Stage, and then the 3rd Reading of the European Union (Notice of Withdrawal) Bill. If these are completed, then the Bill will be returned to the Commons for "Ping Pong".

I've already made clear my concern at the way the Government is seeking to bulldoze this bill through Parliament. It is outrageous! Government's should not behave this way - showing contempt for the decision of the Supreme Court (which upheld the principle of Parliamentary Supremacy), and the legitimate concerns of MPs, Peers and the public. It does not bode well for the future. Democracy thrives with discussion - it withers when discussion is suppressed.

The Bill has been republished, since it was amended at the Committee Stage by the Lords. The new version is available at

https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0108/17108.pdf

The marshalled list for the Report Stage (which is useful for following the debate - because it gives the number and the text of each amendment) is available at

https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0108/17108-I.pdf

The Report Stage will consider amendments while the Third Reading is on the motion "That this bill be now read a third time". Further amendments could be taken at 3rd Reading  provided the issue has not been fully considered and voted on during either committee or report stage - but as the two stages are separated by a only a short debate on another matter, this is going to be difficult. Amendments at third reading are normally used to clarify specific parts of the bill and to allow the government to make good any promises of changes they made at earlier stages of the passage of a bill.

The Day's business is set out at http://calendar.parliament.uk/calendar/Lords/All/2017/3/7/Daily. The House is due to start sitting at 11.00, and move straight into the Report Stage. There will be a break for questions from about 2.30 to 3.00.  (The Order Paper will be available at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/lords/lords-business/#session=28&year=2017&month=2&day=7 [If it is not yet available, it should be up by 08.00am - I am publishing this extra early today]

As ever - live and recorded video is available at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/10b26caa-43e2-4e01-84ad-b13169f7351c

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