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Parliamentary Reform

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. As my vicar reminds us every Sunday morning, Parliament is the ““high court”” of Parliament. Perhaps through our Select Committees we could take such matters more seriously and ensure that witnesses do attend when they are asked to appear to give evidence before Committees. At this point, I thank the first three speakers in this debate, all of whom appeared before the Procedure Committee last week to help in our deliberations on the reform of sitting hours. I am conscious of the fact that many have spoken but that many still wish to speak, so I conclude with a final comment from the Hansard Society's report, which is worth our bearing in mind. It said that new measures may destabilise existing procedures and create inconsistencies and unintended consequences that undermine the coherence and rationality of the process as a whole. I caution all Members that we must be wary of the unintended consequences of any reform that we propose and upon which we embark.