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Political Parties and Elections Bill

Let me finish this point, as it might help the hon. Gentleman. I know what his majority is, and I know that he has expressed views through the newspapers on many occasions about his great anxiety that his seat is under serious threat from, if I may say so, a most admirable, hard-working and energetic candidate, who I hope will be in his place after the next election. On the question of whether there is any agreement on the triggering provision, it is worth recalling that in the course of the Hayden Phillips discussions—those who were there at the time can bear this out—the question of the arrangements put through by the Justice Secretary eight or nine years ago came up. There was explicit agreement that they should not be changed. The idea that somehow consensus has mystically emerged on the idea of going back to something that has been so discredited over such a long period seems bizarre.