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Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty)

Is my hon. Friend as surprised as I am to hear some Members of the official Opposition putting a view reminiscent of the view taken by far-left Labour Members 30 years ago, which my hon. Friend will remember? Their attitude was to have no timetable for anything, in the hope that the good folk in the Labour party would leave and the nutty lefties would be able to control the agenda at the end of the evening, at 2 o’clock in the morning. Similarly, there has been a backward-looking lack of recognition in today’s debate that an MP’s role has changed. Of course, Members on both sides of the House must scrutinise the Government, but we must also accept that we have a growing volume of constituency duties. To hold open-ended debates that run through the night is not a good way to scrutinise the Government, as it effectively eliminates those who wish to do a good job for their constituencies as well, and cannot be here all the time.