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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Kinnock for that perceptive observation. In some ways, some of the qualities that he has noted were equally evident this evening from those on the Liberal Benches, who are clearly very uncomfortable. They are not speaking to amendments but, goodness me, just look at the way the two of them at the moment, and at various times up to five or six, have sat there looking very exercised about the act in which they are presently involved. Let me talk a little, when speaking to this amendment, as I am, about my experiences as a junior Minister, which I have shared with some junior Ministers who have recently been appointed to the Government. One of the things that struck me was that you spent the first half hour of every morning topping and tailing letters. I was doing over 200 letters a day that had been passed to Ministers from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents. You got to know the Member of Parliament as a result of this process. You got to notice that some MPs were very assiduous. They followed up your reply. Others did not. I was struck by the difference between the performance of the best compared with the worst. The worst would send you a covering letter that was pre-printed, with a pre-printed scribble on the bottom. Others would already have read the letter, reviewed the issues and sought guidance, and would then follow up on the responses.