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Business of the House

Given the detailed debates that took place yesterday on the Terrorism Bill and which will again take place later when we reach the main business, I am slightly surprised that the hon. Gentleman is concerned that there is not enough opportunity to discuss these matters. I have already mentioned that there will be two further days of debate next week, so I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will continue his determined efforts to ensure that we have an effective measure for dealing with the terrorist threat in the United Kingdom, one that, incidentally, commands the very strong support of most people in this country. We have a ministerial code—[Interruption.] I am sorry that hon. Members are scoffing, because I was about to make the point that that code has been applied by successive Prime Ministers, the majority of which have been Conservative ones, and it is thus important to emphasise that this is a matter for the Prime Minister—a matter that he takes extraordinarily seriously. The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issues of trade, justice and poverty. I saw the long lines of people who came to Westminster yesterday to lobby. This is an important issue for people throughout the country, and I am delighted that the Government have responded in the way that they have, by leading the way around the world in ensuring that these matters are taken seriously; and in our meetings of the G8, the EU and other international bodies we are the leaders in putting these issues firmly, squarely and fairly before the international community. The important issue of sub judice will obviously be subject to further consideration. We have had a report, but I understood from the Chairman of the Procedure Committee that it was contemplating looking at the matter again, so obviously it is important that we continue to ensure, as I have said to the House before, that we do not make comments or statements that can affect court proceedings, subject of course to the importance of right hon. and hon. Members being able to raise these matters. The Bill dealing with so-called on-the-runs will be published shortly, as will the parliamentary calendar and the date of the pre-Budget report. May I just raise one matter with the hon. Gentleman? I have seen that he has been dubbed in some newspapers as the jackal. As someone who in the past has been the victim of the sketch writers, may I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman? I say that because I took the trouble to look up the definition of a jackal, and it was described as a medium-sized, opportunistic scavenger with dog-like features and large ears. I offer my sympathies to the hon. Gentleman about that rather unkind and totally unfair comparison.