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Report from the House of Commons Reform Committee on Rebuilding the House

I would go a little further and say that my right hon. Friend is seeking to achieve what the late, great Robin Cook failed to achieve. For that to happen, however, the House will need to be in an altered state from the one it was in in 2002. I was talking about the debate on Select Committee formation that took place in 1979. I want to say a further word about it. The most interesting contribution came from Enoch Powell. I offer it—I am not sure why I am looking at my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Durham again at this point—as reassurance to those who think that we are seeking to redress the balance too far. Enoch Powell reminded hon. Members:""The House comprises parties and, for most of the purposes of the House, its partisan character overrides its corporate character."" He went on to say:""It is therefore courting disappointment to take the report and say 'Here are proposals which, if we enact them, will redress the balance of power between Government and House of Commons and will put us, the Back Benchers, in the envied positions of power and influence now occupied by those upon the Treasury Bench.' If that is the notion on which we approach the proposals, we are in for a disappointment, but that does not justify our not addressing ourselves on a lower plane of expectation to the major recommendations of the Committee."—[Official Report, 20 February 1979; Vol. 963, c. 336.]" There seems to be much political wisdom in those words, and I call them in aid of our proposals if that will enable some to support them on such a lower plane of expectation. In response to the charge that the report smiles on the separation of powers, I must say that it does not. It does, however, smile on the proposition that good government needs good accountability. It seeks to refute the proposition that is often put that, without a system of separated powers—as in our case—we will necessarily have a weak Parliament. I do not believe that that is the case, and I do not think that we should sign up to that proposition.