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Mr. Heald: I thank the Leader of the House for the business, particularly the debate on the air transport White Paper, for which we have been calling.

There is widespread concern about the incident yesterday during Prime Minister's questions. Does the Leader of the House accept that he has my support for sensible measures to improve security, while always remembering that the public must have access to their Parliament? There are clearly lessons to be learned, which the Commission will consider next week.

Turning to another policing issue, about a week ago it looked as though the long-standing demonstration on Parliament square that involves so much police time might be over. Yesterday, my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) opened a debate in Westminster Hall on the Sessional Orders. What progress can the Leader of the House report concerning the Sessional Orders?

The right hon. Gentleman will know how anxious we are to have the debate foreshadowed by the Foreign Secretary about Iraq. This morning the Leader of the House criticised the Leader of the Opposition as "opportunistic" for telling the Prime Minister to stand up to President Bush when he disagrees with him, and not just to tag along. What would he say about these remarks:

"A future in which the UK tags along behind a unilateralist United States would reap a bitter harvest"?

Those were his words last October, reported in The Sun under the heading, "The Hate of Hain". So who is the opportunist now?

Then there is the Deputy Prime Minister, who was telling us this week that "Tony" was consistently trying "to channel America" towards UN action, but that

"we might lose . . . influence if we start having a go at the Americans".

Is it not time that the Prime Minister took a lesson from Baroness Thatcher when she was Prime Minister and was a frank and straightforward friend of the United States of America?

Turning to our Olympic bid, it seems that it depends on the completion of the London Crossrail project. The Leader of the House will have heard the concern expressed by business leaders about the Government's failure to implement it. Can he confirm that as soon as the period of election purdah is over, there will be a statement about its future?

Finally, now that the Chancellor has been forced to concede the failures of the new deal, will the Leader of the House arrange an oral statement so that the Chancellor can apologise for wasting billions of pounds providing help to those who would have found a job anyway and doing precious little for those with real problems finding a job, such as the over-50s, those on incapacity benefit through stress or disability and the lone parents with children at secondary school—all of them let down by Labour?

Mr. Hain: The local election campaigns really do seem to have started, do they not, Mr. Speaker?
 
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On the hon. Gentleman's last point, I find it extraordinary that when 210 people in his constituency have had the opportunity of getting a job with extra training and skills, he wants to send them back to the dole queue, where they were under the Conservatives. Nearly 1 million people have had the chance for skills training, extra opportunities and jobs under the new deal, including very many disabled people in my constituency. The hon. Gentleman should be supporting them, not seeking to consign them to the scrap heap, as they were under the Conservatives.

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's support for what he calls sensible measures to improve security in the House and I agree that lessons—some hard lessons—need to be learned about what happened yesterday. There will be, as I described, recommendations coming from the Security Service, which we will be able to consider early next week. It is extremely important that the old-fashioned culture of security in the House is modernised and that we update our procedures and protect the House against terrorist attacks or any other security breaches.

As regards Parliament square, the Home Office will undertake a consultation exercise on developing police powers and ensuring that the police are empowered to act effectively and proportionately, including using their existing powers. The paper will be issued shortly and there will be a three-month consultation period. I am well aware of the Adjournment debate yesterday in the name of the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young), the Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee. I am also aware of the long delay on the matter, which I greatly regret, but the debate yesterday may have accelerated the outcome, to the general benefit of the House.

On Iraq, which the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) raised in a contentious fashion, it is extraordinary that Conservative Members should seek to split our soldiers and American soldiers by separating those armed forces' leaders in Washington and London when the situation is at its most dangerous in the field. I wonder whether the shadow Defence Secretary agrees that we should distance ourselves, when our soldiers and American soldiers are battling together side by side against terrorists and jointly working to hand over power to Iraqis at the end of June.

On the Olympics and transport, the relevant Ministers and authorities are addressing the issues. I should have thought that the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire would welcome London's being on the shortlist and pay tribute to the Government's drive in securing that position.

Mr. Heald: You had to bring Seb in.

Mr. Hain: The Government were prepared to put in extra resources to win the Olympics for London, and the hon. Gentleman should back that.

Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough) (Lab): The House is grateful for the confirmation by the Leader of the House that the Speaker has sole responsibility for security in the House. Can the Leader of the House confirm that
 
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the House supported the Speaker's decision to raise the screen? Can he also confirm that after the review to which he referred and the meetings of the joint committee on security on Monday and of the House of Commons Commission on Tuesday, any recommendations that the Speaker makes to the House should be fully supported, rather than receiving a majority of seven, which we saw in the last vote?

Mr. Hain: I agree with everything that my hon. Friend said. You, Mr. Speaker, are indeed responsible for security in the House. Everybody in the House of Commons Commission, including my hon. Friend, the shadow Leader of the House and me, backed your decision to the hilt. Our position was united, and we intend to maintain it. Following recommendations from the security services, we will move forward together to ensure that the House is properly protected, while always ensuring that we do not shut ourselves off to influence and pressure from members of the public who are properly here to lobby us.

Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall) (LD): May I assure the Leader of the House that my hon. Friends and I support his new approach on the security of the House? May I ask him to re-examine the debate on the security screen on 22 April, to which other hon. Members have already referred, and particularly column 478 of Hansard? He will recall that in that debate several senior hon. Members and I expressed the precise concerns that have now become so important. For example, I said that it was important to make certain that the new screen did not divert attention from the wider interest of the security of the whole House, and that we should review the positioning of the screen in the light of the assessment to which he referred.

Will the Leader of the House now accept that the perimeter of Parliament is the critical issue? Although nearly 13,000 security passes have been issued, hundreds of them have gone astray. What steps are being taken urgently to review that point? I have asked him that question on two previous occasions, but I have not received an answer on either the number of passes that have gone astray or the steps that might be taken.

We all accept that it is difficult for the Leader of the House or anyone else to give details on a public occasion such as this, but will he assure us that this summer's executive report will be by the professionals, who should be given an opportunity comprehensively to examine the whole House, including all the buildings and all the people who come here, rather than just this Chamber? Although every democrat wants to resist this building becoming a fortress—we must maintain a balance—it is important to ensure that, rather than simply putting this Chamber in a glass box, we are making Parliament a safe place for all our constituents to meet us and hear what is undertaken on their behalf.

The issue is extremely important and I understand the point that the Leader of the House made about getting the right professional advice, which is difficult to bring to the Floor of the House, but he must accept that the issue concerns not only security, but this House's important role as the cockpit of the nation's debates.

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