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Gillian Merron: The hon. Gentleman must take account of the priority that Opposition Members attach to Opposition day subjects and the way in which they use the debates. For example, there have not been any Opposition day debates on subjects, such as child poverty, that are a great priority in my constituent's lives. Today, I received confirmation from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment that more than £2 million pounds of Government money will go to a sure start programme in Birchwood in Lincoln. It will enable the under-fours to get the best start in life. That is one of the priorities of my constituents.
There has not been an Opposition day debate on third-world debt. I am sure that many hon. Members share this experience, but the number of representations that I
have received from my constituents on their concerns about third-world debt and their interest in the Government's record has been exceeded only by representations about fox hunting. We should devote the right amount of time to quality debates on the issues that impact on people's lives.Reference has been made to voting records. Voting is an important means of expressing opinion, and I draw the House's attention to the fact that the top Conservative Member in this regard is the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) who is ranked 208th on the list.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: I am not trying to score party political points, but it is important that Members realise that when members of the Chairmen's Panel chair a Standing Committee, they take no part in the progress of that Bill on Report and Third Reading. That can deprive them of the opportunity to vote on many occasions. The record to which the hon. Lady rightly refers does not always accurately reflect Members' work and their commitment to the House of Commons.
Gillian Merron: The hon. Gentleman makes a very fair point. However, I refer to the speech of the Leader of the Opposition who clearly referred to the Prime Minister's voting record. The right hon. Gentleman even compared the voting records of those on the Government Front Bench, to whom the hon. Gentleman's arguments apply, with those of Opposition Front Benchers. We must be cautious in drawing conclusions, but I stick to the point--I shall not labour it any further--that the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst, at 208 on the list, is the Conservative Member who has voted most often. That point will be of interest to the public.
Mr. Peter Bradley: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Gillian Merron: I will not because I would like to move on to consider the issue of modernisation and change. I am pleased that the Opposition are embracing discussion of those issues. For that, I say, "Welcome to the 21st century."
I am an advocate of modernisation, but the guiding light in that regard should be an effort to achieve more efficient government better to serve the country. That point must run through all our considerations. I know that my constituents would strongly support moves in that direction. I have no doubt that no business would survive if it were run in the way that the House is run. There is no meeting of any value that would allow the time of the meeting to continue without limit. No sensible gathering would allow those in attendance to dominate others for an extraordinary amount of time. I feel that it befits the House to look at how it conducts business on behalf of the public.
Let us look at some of the progress made by the Government. We have heard about the removal of the inherited privileges from the House of Lords. This has come about almost 100 years after the first attempt and shows the true commitment of Labour Members to ensuring that the Houses of Parliament are more accountable to the people. There has also been the introduction of parallel sittings in Westminster Hall, which has doubled the opportunities for scrutiny--especially for Back Benchers--and has allowed constructive
opportunities to debate Select Committee reports. I hope we would all welcome that. There has been improved scrutiny of European business, which has increased coverage of all European business matters.The words "European" and "dome" create a ripple of excitement among Opposition Members. I wish to draw the House's attention to the menu in the Dining Room, where we can see on offer a Mediterranean vegetable dome. I am concerned that this may cause heartburn to Opposition Members.
One of the Opposition's priorities is that Prime Minister's Question Time should be held twice a week, for 20 minutes each time. In terms of Prime Minister's Question Time, I think we must look at matters of substance, rather than spin. We should listen to the words of a young visitor who said recently that he did not know why it was called Prime Minister's Question Time--Prime Minister's argument time might be better. We must move beyond that. It is up to the Opposition to decide whether they want Prime Minister's Question Time to be the most colourful show on the London stage or whether they want it to be a true opportunity to hold the Prime Minister to account. That is entirely in their gift.
Mr. St. Aubyn: Does the hon. Lady recognise that the main problem we have is that the Prime Minister never answers our questions?
Gillian Merron: As with any relationship, it is a two-way process. Opposition Members should look at how they conduct their questioning of the Prime Minister.
If Parliament is about people's lives, we should be debating the political differences between the parties. I would like to hear more, as would my constituents, about the Opposition's plans to charge for hip replacements; to drive families back into poverty by abolishing the working families tax credit; and to punish the poorest pensioners by taking away winter fuel allowances, just as they scrapped free eye tests and slapped VAT on fuel.
It is the job of the Opposition to challenge and question the Government, and the mechanism must surely allow that. However, in the same way, the mechanism must allow the Government to govern effectively in the interests of the people of this country. This House should strive for efficiency and not make excuses.
5.18 pm
Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster): I promise to be brief, and it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron).
Given the relatively trivial agenda of some Government Back Benchers today, I declare immediately a series of registered outside interests, one of which is remunerated and which the Government are shortly to nationalise. The Government have indicated that they will continue to remunerate it in future in its revised form.
I should declare an interest also as a member of the Norton commission, which welcomed a number of the reforms carried out in this Parliament, as the hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) was good enough to say. Also, I am a member of the Liaison Committee. I am not a member of the Modernisation Committee.
The Norton commission was appointed by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, and therefore its report will not be the subject of a separate debate in this House, beyond the extent to which it has formed part of the agenda for today's debate.
I have understood from the Leader of the House at recent business questions that we shall debate both the Liaison Committee report and the latest Modernisation Committee report on separate occasions, so there will be separate opportunities to catch the eye of whoever is in the Chair on those reports in due course. Any references to them today, therefore, will be glancing.
As the Norton commission's report will not be the subject of a separate debate, I shall take the liberty of contributing to our debate the first three paragraphs with which my noble Friend Lord Norton, an admirable and industrious chairman of the commission, opened the speech that launched the report in the Jubilee Room last Monday. He said:
- Parliament is at the heart of our political system. It is the essential and definitive link between the individual and government. Weaken Parliament and, in the long run, you undermine the health of the whole political system.
In the report, we identify the functions of Parliament and the purpose of parliamentary reform. Too often, reforms are proposed for different purposes. Some are designed to expedite the business of Government, some are for the convenience of Members of Parliament, some are designed to remove archaic practices. Others are designed to strengthen Parliament in calling government to account.
The focus of this report is precise and consistent. We are concerned solely with strengthening Parliament in calling government to account. Parliament fulfils many of its functions well but we believe that it could, and should, be far more effective in forcing government to explain itself, to justify its measures, to answer for mistakes and to heed the concerns of citizens. There is a clear imbalance in the relationship between Parliament and the executive. In the report, we identify the reasons for the imbalance and we put forward proposals to correct it.
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