I have been informed that two Lords Committees are to be formed in the coming days, one of which formed by the Leader of the House of Lords I wholeheartedly endorse and hope it proves productive.

However, the Committee called for by the Duke of Abercorn is another matter. The stated goal of this committee includes a direct presumption of guilt of the Government before investigation has been conducted.

This flies directly in the face of the supposedly nonpartisan goal of the House of Lords, and it is my opinion that the Lords Speaker should not have accepted a committee with such a goal. A committee on general budget and financial topics would be acceptable, but the stated objective is a blatantly partisan attack with no attempt to even pretend at being objective evaluators.

For this reason, the Government will be boycotting this specific committee. Myself and the Chancellor continue to call for a committee of reasonable parliamentarians for general budget cooperation. This is something the Chancellor has called for for years.

We will not refuse to attend if called as witnesses specifically, we have no intentions of violating the law, but no Government lords will sit on this committee.