Arrangement of Business

Baroness Coffey Excerpts

Friday 30th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am sad to add to the list of requests to the Chief Whip. I was saddened to hear the allegation on the “Today” programme that those opposing the Bill are just a random group of religiously motivated people. It is not how I have ever been treated as a Christian in this House.

That came on the back of questioning, covered by parliamentary privilege, of the representative of the British Association of Social Workers. The representative was chosen by the professional body to come to us. He faced questioning from one of the members of our Select Committee, who basically said to him— I summarise—“Do you have a right to put your views on others, as a vicar?” In any other forum, that would have been a breach of the Equality Act, had there not been parliamentary privilege. Can the Chief Whip look at the Code of Conduct to see whether these lazy allegations—that, somehow, religiously motivated people might also just be ignorant—should not be made on the “Today” programme or in the questioning of witnesses in a Select Committee of your Lordships’ House?

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I suggest to the Chief Whip that, in addition to the clerks’ seminar, noble Lords might want to speak to the noble Lord, Lord Spellar. His Private Member’s Bill did not proceed in this House, so he used the Parliament Act, or started the process that would trigger the Parliament Act if necessary. Therefore, I think he can give everybody some practical experience, alongside the theoretical insight from our good clerks.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

First, if I cannot cover all the points, my door is open at all times. Please come and see me. I genuinely want to be helpful to all Members of the House.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, gave us some very good advice. I first met my noble friend Lord Spellar when I was 16; he has been a friend of mine since then. He is a thoroughly good noble Lord, and I always listen to him very carefully.

I will say a few things in response to Members from across the House. First, a royal commission is not for me to discuss; that would be a matter for the Government to look at.

Protecting the House’s procedures is obviously one of my roles, and I try to do that as best as I can. I try to defend the House and enable all Members to have their say. We are, of course, self-regulating, and we all treasure our self-regulating status. But to be self-regulating, we have to show some self-regulation. We have to be mindful of that, because the alternative is that we end up with House of Commons-type procedures, which no one would want to see. When we are speaking, we have to treasure our self-regulating status and ensure that it carries on.

The Government have no intention of bringing back this Private Member’s Bill. It will remain a PMB, and the Government have no intention of bringing it back in the next Session. I am having enough problems getting the Government’s programme through at the moment, let alone trying to deal with this Bill, so I promise noble Lords that it will not come back as a government Bill. This is why I do not want to get into a lot of what ifs. If the Bill falls, it may come back through the House of Commons; it may get through and then the Parliament Act may be applied—but that is a matter for the other House. It is not for me or for any other Member of this House to determine what the other House or Mr Speaker do. That will be a matter for them—if it happens at all. That is all I can say on that.

I did not listen to my noble and learned friend on the “Today” programme. I am sorry; I usually listen to it, but I missed that one. I must listen to it on catch-up to hear what was said, because it has clearly had a lot of bearing on what Members have said today. A lot of things get talked about in the media; there is a lot of speculation and pages have been written in newspapers about this. At the end of the day, this House will decide what it does with this Bill and no one else will decide that—it is up to this House. I think we should make more progress.

As I said earlier, if the Parliament Act were to be applied, many conditions would be applied to make that happen. I suspect that they would look at how the House of Lords has dealt with the Bill—but that is a matter for the other place, not for any Member here. I think I have covered most issues, but please come and see me if not.