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

I am sorry, but I will not give way. In the concluding speech before the winding-up speeches, the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) spoke of more radical changes being required. We now have the irony that on the one hand the public are disenchanted with the political process, yet on the other they have more opportunity than ever before to engage with us. Technological advances mean that members of the public are much better informed and have instant methods of expressing opinions to their elected representatives. I do not deny that the changes will be difficult to start with—a Back-Bench business committee will take some getting used to, for example—but these are challenges that we should take on and accept. We should not shirk the challenge because of a misplaced fear of failure. The Leader of the House has spoken of establishing a consensus before we can proceed, but what she really means is that there should be unanimity. That was clearly confirmed by the Prime Minister when he spoke of the""agreement of all the parties and all Members of the House"." As my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) said in his opening speech, in the past the Government have been happy to press pet reforms through when it suited them but the demand for unanimity now strongly implies that the Government are not full square behind these proposals. If the Leader of the House disagrees with that assertion, I invite her deputy to confirm in her reply that on 4 March all the resolutions will be tabled. There really is no excuse for not allowing the House to express its views on all the proposals in the report. A failure to receive that confirmation will remind Members of the Leader of the House's earlier comments, when she spoke of a "climate of suspicion"—her words, not mine. There is still time to recant. Today, we have the opportunity to restore to Parliament some of the powers that it has lost over successive decades. We have an opportunity to restore the balance of power, strengthening Parliament so that it can hold the Executive more fully to account. We have an opportunity to reach out to a disillusioned public as part of the process of regaining their trust and faith in us and we have an opportunity for Parliament more to reflect the political standards of the 21st century. Let us not waste that opportunity. I urge all right hon. and hon. Members to support the proposals.