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Members' Salaries, Pensions and Allowances

What the hon. Gentleman says is born of his long experience, but I would draw a distinction between the Government's proposals for the system and the upshot of a formula that everyone agrees has not worked satisfactorily in recent years. The right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) made an extremely sensible speech this afternoon, and we are all grateful to her for her bravery in tackling the media coverage of this issue. She emphasised the importance of getting the timetable right, and that was also referred to by other hon. Members. I would like to restate and re-emphasise the position on the timetable for this year. As the written ministerial statement said, Sir John Baker has been charged with reporting back to the Prime Minister before the end of May. That will give us two months to consider the report, to consult and to table motions in the House, so that hon. Members can think about the process and vote on where we go from here.