---

Business of the House

I do not know whether the Leader of the House had the opportunity yesterday to visit the ““Stop Climate Chaos”” lobby across the road, but would it not be opportune to hold a debate on early-day motion 178? [That this House agrees with the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser that climate change is a threat to civilisation; welcomes the cross-party agreement in favour of major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, and particularly in carbon dioxide emissions, by 2050; believes that such a long-term target will best be met through a series of more regular milestones; and therefore notes the Climate Change Bill that was presented by a cross-party group of honourable Members in the final days before the General Election, and hopes that such a Bill will be brought forward in this Parliament so that annual cuts in carbon dioxide emissions of 3 per cent. can be delivered in a framework that includes regular reporting and new scrutiny and corrective processes.] The motion was tabled by the right hon. Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher) and signed by no fewer than 338 hon. Members, including almost the entire Liberal Democrat parliamentary party. This is an important issue, and it needs to be debated in the House. May we have a debate on higher education, given that this year the number of applications to universities fell for the first time in six years, with a particularly pronounced fall among English students applying to English universities, which suggests that tuition fees are an important factor? If we are to properly address terrorism, as of course we must, would it not be the right time to examine again the admissibility of intercept evidence? Perhaps the Police and Justice Bill is an opportunity to do so, given the view expressed by Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman last week that to continue banning telephone tap evidence would be foolish. Lastly, may we have a debate in Government time on the Government’s view of local government? The Minister of Communities and Local Government gave his views last week about what he called ““double devolution”” without mentioning local authorities at all. We also have the Secretary of State for Education and Skills determining that local education authorities cannot build schools without her having a veto, and the Home Secretary wanting to appoint police authorities himself. Do the Government still believe in local government?