Submission from Chris Bryant MP
As you know, I support the changes to the sitting
hours of the House that were brought in last year. However, can
I suggest one other improvement?
Private Members' Bills are now mainly dealt
with on Fridays, between 9.30 am and 2.30 pm. They tend to suffer
from a rather whimsical legislative process as an effective Opposition
whips office can easily ensure the Government is overturned as
many Members will be away in their constituencies on important
work on Fridays. They also fall foul of the `talking-out' syndrome,
whereby Bills fall to the back of the queue if their second reading
has not been agreed by 2.30 pm. The problems are manifest:
— London members play a disproportionate
role in the consideration of Private Members' Bills.
— Members from further a field have
to surrender a whole day of constituency work in order to support
a measure such as the Fireworks Bill.
— Talking-out brings Parliament into
disrepute as it is so clearly an example of parliamentary process
being used to circumvent the real will of the House.
— There are remarkably few members
present for most Private Members' Bills, so they do not get any
proper debate.
My suggestion is therefore that Private Members'
Bills be debated on Tuesday evenings after the moment of interruption
and until 10.00 pm. There would be several benefits:
— All members would be able to participate
in all debates.
— Bills would be properly subject to
the will of the House rather than the caprice of Friday morning
attendance.
— All members would have every Friday
free for constituency work—and the Chamber would be free
all day for constituency visits.
— The House would still be active until
10.00 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings, giving members and ministers
more opportunities to meet informally.
— Those members with other commitments
would nonetheless be free after the end of whipped business at
the moment of interruption.
— The Time allocated to Private Members'
Bills would be the same as now, with 2½ hours per week as
opposed to 5 hours every sitting Friday.
I would be grateful to hear your views.
January 2004
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