Life in the modern House of Lords (alright, this might be a bit of an oxymoron, but stick with me...) isn't all about trying to improve badly drafted attempts by the Government to make us all criminals. Sometimes, the Lords interact with the community, and yesterday the Lords Select Committee on Communications were meeting with the cast and crew of the next Harry Potter movie as part of their review of the state of the British film industry. Apparently, any leak of information is punishable by death, but my sources tell me that the stars aren't as tall as they look on screen...
Meanwhile, in the Chamber, it was back to the Parliamentary Standards Bill, and the second day of its Committee Stage. As the Government hedge, trim, amend and backtrack like some demented and slightly haphazard barber, it becomes increasingly difficult to establish what the Bill says at any given moment. Think of it as a memory test for a group of aging lawyers...
Clause 8 introduces a new offence for MPs committing expenses fraud, and a number of Peers noted their concern that an act already covered by anti-fraud legislation elsewhere should now be addressed by legislation offering different, and more importantly less stringent, maximum terms of imprisonment. Unfortunately, the irony of this is completely lost on the Government, and they seem determined to push it through. Indeed, Standing Orders have been suspended so as to allow the Report Stage and the Third Reading to take place on the same day, and allow amendments at Third Reading One suspects that Monday will be a long day...
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