The Bill begins its Peer Review

The Lords really spoke their minds on the Higher Education and Research Bill in their Second Reading debate on 6 December. Peers packed in 69 speeches through an afternoon and a long evening, topped and tailed by Lord Younger’s introductory remarks and his concluding summary. At the end he promised Peers a ‘letter’ (‘a long one, I suspect’) about points raised and ‘factsheets’. Adhering with obvious reluctance to the ‘advisory’ five minutes each, the Lords made it abundantly clear that they would have a lot more to say at the Committee stage. More...