Yesterday I sat in on the Public Bill Committee which is considering the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. Unlike the dramatics of Prime Minister's Question Time, this was a workmanlike session where amendments were proposed, explained, argued for - and the Minister responded to the detailed points made - indicating whether the Government would accept the amendments; oppose them on principle; or consider changing policy or the text of the bill in response to the comments made.
This was Parliament doing (what in fact it does most of the time) what we would expect of a responsible legislature - giving detailed consideration of proposed laws - deliberating.
The text of the Bill can be found
here - and the Explanatory Notes
here. The amendments I watched being considered can be found
here. You can listen to the session I listened to via
Parliament Live.
