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

I do not think that I have ever said this before, and I never thought that I would say it, but it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Reading, West (Martin Salter). He made a very powerful speech, in which he encapsulated what needs to be done by this place to recover the confidence of the people of this country. I believe that the Committee on Reform of the House of Commons has, under the distinguished leadership of the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright), made a very good start on the reform of this place. As I come to the end of my parliamentary career, I would love to be able to say that I have helped to restore authority back with the House, over the Executive. I repeat that the hon. Gentleman's Committee has made a very good start. Let me refer directly to you, Mr. Speaker, if I may. Standing Orders have been mentioned, and those who control Standing Orders control the House. It is time that that control was taken away from the Government and put under the authority of a Committee of this House under your chairmanship. That would ensure that they would represent the best interests of Back Benchers and not just those of the Executive. I hope that I will be forgiven for mentioning briefly my involvement with the Procedure Committee over two Parliaments, and my time as the longest-serving member of the Modernisation Committee, which I am sad to say has not met for some 18 months. The Procedure Committee is now under the chairmanship of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Knight), who is doing an excellent job. I meant what I said in an intervention: the future driver of change and reform in this place should be the Procedure Committee, which should encapsulate the current responsibilities of the Modernisation Committee and should be under the chairmanship of a senior and experienced Opposition Member. To pick up the remarks of the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath), we should seek to formalise the election or selection of people who sit on that Committee, because it will be even more important to the House in future than it has been in the past.