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Home Affairs

I would like to put on record the fact that the Committee of Selection offered to meet on Monday night. The Government had no business. The hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) said that the Committee of Selection could have met on Tuesday or Wednesday this week, but the Standing Orders do not allow that. We would not have been able to put anything on the Order Paper unless we had met on Monday night. Because we did not meet then, what is happening now is the only action open to the Government in order to get something placed on the Order Paper. Having said that, I accept some of the concerns of my colleagues, particularly the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) who sits on the Committee with me. It would be helpful if the Leader of the House were able to give us an assurance that this is most unusual and that she will do everything in her power to ensure that this process is not usurped again in any circumstances. If she could do that, I think that the House would accept it. We frequently amend Standing Orders, so that is not the issue. What we must do is ask the Leader of the House to give us an assurance that this is an unusual process and that she will do everything in her power to make sure that it does not happen again.