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Proceeding contribution from Lord Martin of Springburn (Crossbench) in the House of Lords on Monday, 21 March 2011. It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bill on Fixed-term Parliaments Bill.

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

I cannot speak for what is going on in the other place at the moment. However, if my memory serves me correctly, the Minister followed Jo Grimond into the House of Commons in 1983, so he will appreciate as a former Scottish Member that on a Thursday there were votes more often than not, because we had to take the sleeper home. The other thing is that the Minister has had more experience of four-year Parliaments than five-year ones. In the last Session of a five-year Parliament, there were no votes whatever on the Floor of the House of Commons on a Thursday. That is what happened in the last Session of Parliament before the general election—there were no votes at all. The Minister has never had the experience of when that was the case.

Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
726 c509 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Devolution Legislatures General elections Fixed-term parliaments Dissolution Northern Ireland Parliamentary scrutiny Parliament Parliamentary session Scotland Wales Censure motions Speaker's certificates
Legislation
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk