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Crime and Security Bill (Ways and Means)

I disagree. I think that Ways and Means motions should always be debated in full. The spending of money is a very important aspect, but I do not think that the fact that we are in a financial mess of unique magnitude makes any difference to the fact that we should always discuss ways and means. However, I do not know how we are to do that without having been given even an estimate of the amount involved, and without knowing whether the Minister is going to tell us more. Perhaps little notes are being passed to her; I do not know. I do not want to detain the House for long, but I am trying to make a serious point. We know about the principle, which was a matter for the Committee and will be decided on Report. However, we debate Ways and Means motions very rarely. We normally nod them through, saying, "Oh yes, it is all right to spend that amount of money." That is where our Parliament fails and the American House of Representatives, for instance, succeeds. Given the furore that is undoubtedly going on outside this place today about the importance of Parliament, it is sad that, yet again, the Government have in a sense taken Parliament for granted, and have not given us more detail on a specific Ways and Means motion. The merits of the issue are not important; what is important is how much we are, or are not, going to spend. When I decide how to vote, or whether to divide the House, I want to be in a position to know that. I have a feeling that if the Minister does not tell us, the Division Bells will ring.