---

Political and Constitutional Reform Committee

It is an intriguing argument that however many Select Committees there were operated and could travel around the country at no cost to the House at all. That is an interesting argument, but not one for today, perhaps. I was asked why the chairmanship of this Committee is to be Labour, and it was suggested that perhaps the wording should be ““the official Opposition””. This was a decision of the House, and it decided that the Speaker should allocate the Chairs of the various Select Committees according to the proportion of Members in the House elected from each party. It was the Speaker's decision—based, I am sure, on excellent mathematical principles—that this chairmanship should be allocated to the Labour party. Unless the House decides otherwise, it is not the Government's position that the decision that the House has already taken should be changed. On the time interval for nominations, that is for the convenience of the House. If the House does not like it, it is at liberty to say that it wants the full period for nominations, but I think that most want the Select Committees up and running at the earliest opportunity. They want to make sure that people have the opportunity to vote for the Chairs of all the Select Committees at the same time. They want to make sure that the best people, and not people who have been rejected for other chairmanships, put themselves forward for the Chairs in which they are most interested. I think that is the right way of doing things, but it is for the House to decide. I think I have dealt with all the points that have been raised.