AS a member of the Upper House I'm told to be careful about what I say about the House of Commons.

But I did find MPs' behaviour on Friday to be quite astonishing.

To recap, they were debating a Private Member's Bill to exempt themselves as MPs from the Freedom of Information Act.

It was put forward by former Tory Chief Whip David Maclean but some of the main supporters of this shocking plan appear to have been Labour ministers and ex-ministers.

It was talked out during the week, and that would normally have been the end of it but it found its way back on the agenda.

I am proud that the opposition to this shabby proposal was led by some of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, in particular Simon Hughes and Norman Baker.

It was Norman who dug out all the facts about MPs' expenses a few months ago, which seems to have been the catalyst for this attempt to stop it happening again.

Of course, the supporters are saying it's all about safeguarding the privacy of correspondence between MPs and their constituents, which should indeed remain private.

But it is quite clear that this is already covered by the law.

And anyway when has it been a problem?

Perhaps we can do something about this crummy little Bill when it comes to the Lords in a few weeks' time - though if I want to put my vote where my mouth is I might even have to turn up on a Friday!

Meanwhile my own contribution last week was to give the Government another nudge on their promises to provide full access to the English coast.

We are now expecting their consultation paper on this in about a month's time - so more about it then!