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4.46 pm
Mr. Ivan Lewis (Bury, South): First, let me say that I genuinely believe that certain Opposition Members have strong and independent views on the subject of this afternoon's debate, but I am touched by the number of ex-Ministers--particularly among the Opposition, but one or two on the Government side--who suddenly develop affection for the independence of Back Benchers once they cease to be Ministers, or indeed Prime Ministers.
There is no question but that since day one of this Parliament the official Opposition have presented the issue in an intensely party political way. They have been distorting the truth, perpetuating a myth and creating their own virtual reality in relation to the Government's attitude towards Parliament. At the root of the problem is their arrogant belief that they were born to rule and that somehow on 1 May 1997 the British people did not quite know what they were doing and made a ghastly mistake, waking up on 2 May to find, much to their surprise,
that there was a Labour Government with a significant majority. However, the British people gave the Labour party its majority in the House and the mandate to govern.From day one, the Opposition's strategy has been deliberate. In the absence of credible policies, they have sought to fuel cynicism about politicians and the political process. They have sought to neutralise the British people's perception that sleaze and arrogance belong to the Conservative party, by implying that all politicians are the same. In a political environment in which all democrats should feel an obligation to enhance the electorate's confidence in their elected representatives, they have cynically embarked on a scorched earth approach.
The Conservatives are so wedded to the sanctity of democratic accountability that they fought to save hereditary peers--the most undemocratic example of people having a say in legislation. They have used every parliamentary rule available to deny the will of the House and the majority of the British people in relation to the banning of hunting with dogs.
The Conservatives are so committed to their role as scrutineers and defenders of the public interest that 73 per cent. of their number register outside interests that are likely to undermine their capacity to do a full-time job as a Member of Parliament. Is it any wonder that they have no desire to reform the office costs allowance, for example? They do not need the resources to do a proper job on behalf of their constituents because they are making so much money through other means.
Mr. Andrew Tyrie (Chichester): Would the hon. Gentleman like to comment on the view of Lord Nolan, which has subsequently been backed up by Lord Neill, that outside interests are an essential part of parliamentary life and enrich parliamentarians' contributions to this place, and that without outside interests Parliament would be much the poorer?
Mr. Lewis: I made a commitment to my constituents when I was elected that I would have one job, and one only--to represent the people of Bury, South. That takes up every single minute of every hour of every day that I have available.
Despite the Conservative party's appalling record, I do not want to attack Tory Members in the abstract: I want instead to deal with some of the issues that they have raised. First, there is the matter of the Prime Minister and his relationship with the House. It has been noted that Prime Minister's Question Time used to take up two 15-minute sessions a week, and that there is now one session of 30 minutes. The Leader of the Opposition uses a significant portion of that 30 minutes. If he was really concerned about Back-Bench Members, he would leave more time for them to contribute.
Mr. Hope: Is my hon. Friend aware that, at the last eight Prime Minister's Question Times, the Leader of the Opposition has failed to raise the matter of education once? Is that a surprise or, given the £24 billion-worth of cuts that would hit education if the Conservatives ever returned to power, is it because the Opposition do not want to talk about education on the Floor of the House?
Mr. Lewis: I agree with my hon. Friend. It has been said that Prime Minister's Question Time is about
scrutiny, but it is time for hon. Members to stop conning people. Prime Minister's Question Time has more to do with pantomime than with scrutiny. The right hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) addressed the House earlier, but he omitted to mention that he suggested to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister that it would be a good idea to introduce the current system for Prime Minister's Question Time.We have heard about a lack of statements from the Prime Minister, but he has made at least as many as his predecessors. As for my right hon. Friend's voting record, do Conservative Members really believe that our constituents want their Prime Minister to be tied down night after night to votes in the House, instead of making the critical decisions about policy--international, social and economic--that will determine and shape the future of the country? If Conservative Members believe that, they are not in the real world.
Mr. Bercow: The hon. Gentleman referred to international policy, and he will recall that my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major), the former Prime Minister, sat through the debates on the Maastricht treaty. Will the hon. Gentleman tell the House of a single occasion during the Committee proceedings on the European Communities (Amendment) Bill, which ratified the treaty of Amsterdam, when the Prime Minister attended?
Mr. Lewis: No, but I shall write to the hon. Gentleman!
Mrs. Beckett: I hope that my hon. Friend will try and find out how often Lady Thatcher sat through debates--on the Single European Act, for example. I think that he will also find that the presence of the right hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) during the Maastricht debates had more to do with the fact that he was fighting his own party than with any other factor.
Mr. Lewis: I agree with my right hon. Friend. As far as I recall, Baroness Thatcher was not known, as Prime Minister, for her commitment to scrutiny, democracy or accountability.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) said, Select Committees criticise aspects of Government policy on a regular basis. Ministers fear their reports and the Select Committees frequently demonstrate their independence, so why is there a need for change? The House should remember that the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) dared to tell the British people what his party was doing to the national health service. The response from the then Conservative Government was to remove him from the chairmanship of the Select Committee on Health.
If Conservative Members are genuinely worried about the role of Select Committees, why have they not been honest with the British people and welcomed the establishment of more Select Committees, such as the Select Committee on Environmental Audit, and ad hoc Committees on draft legislation? At the risk of prompting a massive reaction from certain Conservative Members, may I ask why the Opposition have not welcomed the enhanced scrutiny that takes place of all European Union
business. Why have the Opposition not told the people about what Westminster Hall has done to quadruple the chance to debate Select Committee reports? Why have they not welcomed the Westminster Hall experiment, which has given Back-Bench Members so many more opportunities, on subjects of their choosing, to hold Ministers to account?As for modernisation of the House, it is right that we seek consensus, but the Conservative party always refuses to reach consensus on modernisation issues, because it wants to portray the Government as arrogant and controlling. That is why it will not play ball on reorganisation and modernisation. Once again, it is a question of being cut off from the real world.
The people in our constituencies do not want us to sit through the night debating meaningless issues. That is not their definition of scrutiny and holding people to account, of running the country in a businesslike fashion. Once the front-line speakers on both sides have finished, are there more than half a dozen hon. Members anywhere in the House when the so-called democratic scrutiny takes place? It is a charade and an illusion.
Another important point is that all our constituents value the role that constituency Members play in their constituencies as community leaders and case workers every bit as much as they value the role that Members play in the House. The new generation of Members, largely on the Labour Benches House, have adopted the role of community leaders in a way never previously seen.
With regard to devolution, my party has given the people of Scotland, of Wales, of London and of Northern Ireland the opportunity to have power returned closer to their communities so that they genuinely have a role in the making of decisions about their affairs. That is really extending democracy, scrutiny and accountability.
Its choice of subject for this Opposition day typifies the modern Conservative party--a dodgy party, selling dodgy goods with worthless guarantees. It seeks the lowest common denominator in politics, because it has no answers on the big issues that affect the everyday lives of the British people: jobs, the health service, schools, crime, transport and Britain's role in the world. I look forward to its pledge card at the next election: "Save the pound for one Parliament", "Privatise the National Health Service", "Ban spin". I can hardly wait for the campaign to begin.
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