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Administration Committee

Of course, Madam Deputy Speaker. I shall just correct myself. I meant to say that Government have the right to the time to try to get their business through. I accept your admonition and I shall draw my remarks to a close so that other hon. Members can contribute. It is very sad that there are so few new Members in the House, but it is to the credit of the new Member who is here that he is listening to this debate. We have to decide whether we are parliamentarians or just simply representatives of our political parties. Obviously, we are both. That interesting paradox is inherent in our roles, and it leads to many good conclusions. However, we must remember that we are parliamentarians as well as representatives of our parties. During the last Parliament I took place in an extraordinary radio debate with another member of the parliamentary Labour party. That person, when asked by the interviewer whether they were a parliamentarian, was outraged and said, ““I am not a parliamentarian; I am a Labour Member of Parliament. I am sent here to vote for the Government, not to think for myself and be a parliamentarian.”” That Member was outraged by the idea that they should be considered anything other than a Labour Member of Parliament who voted with the Government 100 per cent. of the time. Therein lies our problem. Of course Members on both sides of the House want to be loyal to the party of which many of us have been members for 20 or 30 years—or, in my case, over 40—but we are here to scrutinise Government as Members of Parliament as well. If we do not stand up and shake off the shackles of our Front Benches during this Parliament we will lose yet more years and yet more independence. These are very important issues. This Parliament must assert our distinct identity—our role is different from that of the Executive—and we do so particularly through these Select Committees. We will vote these motions through tonight, and I hope that when the Select Committees operate, they bear it in mind that they have a sacred role in the independent, rigorous scrutiny of Government policy.