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Business of the House

I too am extremely disappointed that the Government have chosen not to allocate time for the completion of the reforms proposed by the Committee chaired by the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright)—or at least those parts of them that the Government committed themselves to bring forward. As the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) has just said, the Leader of the House committed herself to doing that on three separate occasions in three separate weeks. The only thing I would add to his comments is that she repeatedly said that the relevant orders would be brought before the House before the next election. On 11 March, the right hon. and learned Lady said that""I can assure the House that we will bring forward the Standing Orders, and there will be an opportunity for the House to endorse them before the next election."—[Official Report, 11 March 2010; Vol. 507, c. 433.]" On 18 March, she said:""I am under a duty and a responsibility to ensure that this happens before the next Parliament so that the Standing Orders are in place."—[Official Report, 18 March 2010; Vol. 507, c. 986.]" That is the commitment she is going back on today by saying that the completion of the work can be left to the next Parliament. That is not what she was saying in March.