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Speaker's Committee on the Search of Offices on the Parliamentary Estate

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In addition, there has been an element of party political knockabout tonight, although some speeches have been very good. I simply put it to Government Members that irrespective of whether they agreed or disagreed with the previous Conservative Government, tonight's true debate is not about who was right or wrong; the true debate tonight is whether the Executive or Members of Parliament should decide in this place what this place really needs. We are discussing the serious issue of whether an MP has any form of protection in going about their natural duties. It may be that many are suspicious of what my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford was up to. It may be, as the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) said, that what he did was too persistent and too political. I do not know. But I do know that we cannot have a Member of Parliament, of whatever political colour or hue, being investigated under a criminal charge by the police as though what that Member was doing was somehow damaging to national security. That is an absurdity. Members of Parliament must be free to go about their job. I ask Labour Back Benchers to think about whether they would behave as they are behaving tonight if they were in opposition. They have a chance tonight to tell the Government that they do not have a say in this matter. When the Executive wish to have their way, Members should always behave as if they were in opposition.