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Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid), who clearly feels strongly about this issue. He put his case very well, and with typical verve. I congratulate the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) on introducing this Bill; whatever happens today, he has clearly achieved an awful lot in a short time, given the headline in today's Daily Mail and the Government's seizing on his Bill as a way of diverting attention from all the other difficulties in which the Prime Minister finds himself at the moment. I am sure that he did not design it with the aim of saving the Prime Minister's skin, but it has taken us a fair way down the road to doing so. The debate has been fascinating and informative. I have learned a lot, and it has been equally entertaining. We have heard some of the finest speakers in the House today. I do not wish to single out anybody in particular, but the hon. Members for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) and for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) are two of our finest orators, and it was a pleasure to witness their performances today. My hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Leigh) also made a good speech. Indeed, it has been very interesting to watch the unholy alliance—if I may call it that—between my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon. It would be fair to say that, on 99.9 per cent. of Bills, they vehemently disagree with each other, but they have found common cause on this matter. It was also interesting to watch my hon. Friend struggle with the tragic conflict of loyalty between his understandable desire to end discrimination against Catholics and his longstanding support for tradition, in the face of this Bill, which is a challenge on both those fronts. In many respects, this Bill is self-evidently sensible. I spend much of my time in this place trying to argue against gender discrimination, especially positive discrimination. It was music to my ears to hear people's opposition to gender discrimination. It has been said that we should take as read that nobody should believe in any form of gender discrimination. My enthusiasm and delight at hearing that were slightly tempered by the thought that many of those people who were saying that we should take it as read that we do not believe in gender discrimination are those who support all-women shortlists for parliamentary selection. If only we could take it as read that we are against gender discrimination, I would be far happier. The Secretary of State said earlier that he has a proud record of standing against all forms of discrimination, and the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute said that the Government had passed many measures to tackle discrimination in many walks of life. However, the Government's track record in ending gender discrimination is not perfect, and if they really did believe in it they would end all-women shortlists.