8. What assessment he has made of the potential implications for the Parliament Acts of his proposals for House of Lords reform. (100629)

The Government’s proposals will maintain the primacy of the House of Commons and the Parliament Acts will continue to apply.

It is easy to see why the Deputy Prime Minister is hooked on the Parliament Acts and on financial privilege, when the House of Lords has so far inflicted nine defeats on his Government on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill alone. Will he explain why every Lib Dem peer voted to cut social welfare legal aid the day after his conference voted for the

“protection of fair and equal access to justice”?

If my understanding is right, the hon. Gentleman campaigned at the last general election on a commitment in his manifesto to reform legal aid. There have been countless reviews—[Interruption.]

Order. The answer from the Deputy Prime Minister must be heard.

Countless reviews have been conducted on legal aid funding, which has ballooned out of all recognition in recent years. As on so many other issues, the Government have the guts to confront the difficult decisions that Labour ducked for 13 years.