Working Practices (International Agreements Committee Report) — House of Lords, 2022-05-19
Topic: Government Operations
Stephen Benn (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend Lady Hayter of Kentish Town, but can I say at the beginning what a pleasure it is to follow Sir Humphrey? It is a rare privilege afforded any of us to follow such a masterful example, and I felt as I listened to the noble Lord that his speech provided a script for an entire episode of "Yes Minister". If they ever make it again, he should send in his speech and get the credit accordingly, because it was a wonderful example I was not a member of the committee, but I congratulate its chair, members and staff on producing a very good report. It is remarkably frank in its conclusions, but they contain a warning for those of us who want to make sure that government remains properly accountable to Parliament. Its title does not seem very glamorous; "Working practices" has a sort of technical, rather boring aspect to it. It made me wonder how the Government of the day would have presented Magna Carta: "A technical adjustment to the working practices of the monarch." However, these things do matter. Of course, the Motion before us says that the House should take note of the report—well, it is the Government who should take note of it. My noble friend introduced it so comprehensively, and other Members have spoken with such expertise, that I really have very little that I can add today, other than perhaps just emphasising one or two points. Perhaps that is the fact of being put so late in the list, but I had the pleasure of following Sir Humphrey, as I said When I look at the report, I am looking at the Government’s arguments. Paragraph 91 says that the Government’s position is that "the legislative framework in Part 2 of CRAG is appropriate and provides sufficient flexibility to permit Parliament to undertake effective treaty scrutiny prior to ratification." The report says that the committee disagrees—and so do I. Another phrase I find of great interest is this: "The Government believes that the scrutiny system that is currently in place is appropriate in light of the UK’s constitutional settlement." The phrase "constitutional settlement" conveys a certainty and finality that does not, in fact, exist—constitutions evolve. Sometimes I think that you cannot see the wood for the trees because we are so close to it, but it does evolve, and I think that it needs to evolve further. The right of a King or a Queen to make a treaty is a very substantial power. That power has been ceded to Governments and Prime Ministers, but we must be very careful that we do not end up with a system where, in effect and by extension, government powers escape the scrutiny of Parliament I shall make these my final remarks because I do not want to detain the House on a long day. On 25 April, I think, I was sitting in my place and saw the Minister get up to answer a Parliamentary Question about the memorandum of understanding with Rwanda. I thought to myself, "This is a major political policy development, but this House can exercise no scrutiny other than to ask a few supplementary questions. That is not good enough." The committee says that "legislative change may prove the only means to ensure adequate scrutiny of international agreements." I do not think we are anywhere near getting that at the moment, but there is a risk that if Governments continue to find ways to evade proper parliamentary scrutiny, we will get into trouble. I hope, of course, that a future Government will make the proper provisions necessary because the committee’s title, "International Agreements", covers a very wide range of areas and, if we are to be a meaningful democracy, this House must play its full part in it.