APPENDIX 1
Statement of Issues agreed between the
Lord Gray and Her Majesty's Government
1. The Crown have introduced a Bill, the
long title of which, after amendment at Report Stage in the House
of Lords, now reads thus: "to restrict membership of the
House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage; to make related
provision about disqualifications for voting at elections to,
and for membership of, the House of Commons; to establish an Appointments
Commission with functions in relation to the conferment of life
peerages under the Life Peerages Act 1958; and for connected purposes."
2. Clause 1 of the Bill, as amended on Report,
provides that—
"No one shall be a member of the House of
Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage."
3. Clause 2 of the Bill (as amended on Report),
makes provision for hereditary peers, including peers of Scotland,
to be excepted from the application of clause 1 of the Bill.
4. The Bill (as amended on Report) would
not, if enacted, guarantee the right of any peers of Scotland
to sit in the House of Lords, nor would it guarantee that any
person would sit in the House of Lords by virtue of having any
other connection with Scotland.
5. The question that the House has referred
to the Committee is whether the House of Lords Bill (as amended
on Report) would, if enacted, breach the provisions of the Treaty
of Union between England and Scotland.
6. The primary issue that the question raises
is whether the Bill (as so amended) would, by removing after the
end of the Session of Parliament in which it is enacted the right
of the peers of Scotland who now sit in the House, without guaranteeing
the right of any peers of Scotland or of any other person having
a connection with Scotland to sit in the House of Lords in subsequent
Sessions, breach Article XXII of the Acts of Union of 1706 and
1707.
7. In addressing the primary issue, it will
or may be necessary to consider—
(i) The role the Committee may properly perform
in relation to the reference;
(ii) Whether the Parliament of Scotland transferred
to the Parliament of Great Britain the power to repeal the Articles
of the Act of Union of 1707;
(iii) Whether in any event the Parliament of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland may repeal
the Articles of the Act of Union of 1707;
(iv) Whether the Parliament of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has repealed Article XXII
of the Act of Union of 1707;
(v) Whether the repeal or purported repeal of;
(a) Article XXII of the Union with England
Act 1707 by the Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1906, the
Peerage Act 1963 and the Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1964;
(b) Article XXII of the Union with Scotland Act
1706 by the Statute Law Revision Act 1867, the Peerage Act 1963
and the Statute Law Repeals Act 1993, is determinative of the
primary issue.
Richard S Keen, QC
M Lynda Clark, QC
HM Advocate-General
for Scotland
Michael G J Upton,
Advocate
Patrick S Hodge, QC
Philip
J Sales
Treasury Counsel
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