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Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, from the bottom of my heart. As I hear in the distance the light pop of the second bottle being opened in No. 10 Downing street, I shall move on to other amendments in the group. The hon. Member for Rhondda has talked about tidying up. ““Tidy”” is a great word, particularly when spoken in the inimitable accent not of the valets, but of the valleys. I rather share his love of the word, but not the concept. It is an entirely classic Labour reaction to try to make everything neat and tidy. His further amendments would tidy up and specify when Parliament would return after a general election, but he has not told us why or when this has been a problem in the past. He never said, ““There was that famous time when something happened in the country and we were not able to discuss it because we had not returned,”” or, ““There was that famous time when the Prime Minister did not want to do PMQs and avoided them because she or he was so terrified.”” He has not given any reasons to explain why things are not working at the moment, so this is one of the rare occasions on which I shall associate myself with the deep instinct of my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) that we should not change things unless they are demonstrably broken.