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Debate on bill on Friday, 9 March 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Robert Walter. The answering member was Bridget Prentice.

House of Commons (Participation) Bill

House of Commons (Participation) Bill. Second reading debate. adjourned. Debate to be resumed 19 October.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
457 c1777-848 
Session
2006-07
Department
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Private members' bills proceedings
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
House of Commons (Participation) Bill
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Bills
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
David Heath | 457 c1802 (Link to this contribution) I will do so once more, and then I must make some progress.
Show all contributions (257)
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1804 (Link to this contribution) It is because there was a revolution.
David Heath | 457 c1803-4 (Link to this contribution) It certainly does. I will not speak for the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNeil) as he...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1802 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. On the probation service, unless I am wrong—if I...
David Heath | 457 c1805 (Link to this contribution) Only two communities are mentioned in my constituency name; some Scottish colleagues have many more....
David Heath | 457 c1804-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might have exercised just a little patience. I have already accepted that there i...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1804 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s point is essentially about what is the right procedure. The leader of his party...
John Denham | 457 c1798 (Link to this contribution) My Scottish colleague may put me right if I have got that wrong.
David Heath | 457 c1802 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right, in that there is an element of mythology. However, people see key decis...
John Denham | 457 c1799 (Link to this contribution) It would lead to a very chaotic period. First, it would lead to numerous tensions and divisions amon...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1798 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend on that point, but he also said that the Bill would lead inexorabl...
John Denham | 457 c1799-801 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure which remarks the hon. Gentleman means, but the surveys, facts and records speak for t...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1799 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. I certainly do not wish to cast aspersions. W...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1801 (Link to this contribution) I do not dispute for a minute that there may be some truth in what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and...
David Heath | 457 c1801 (Link to this contribution) There is only so much radical reform of the constitution that one can do in one week, and we have pe...
Russell Brown | 457 c1802 (Link to this contribution) I tend to agree in part with what the hon. Gentleman is saying. Sometimes, people are ill-informed a...
David Heath | 457 c1801-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and he may have heard me say on many occasions that this cou...
Robert Walter | 457 c1785 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the point of my Bill, which would redress that kind of injustice.
Lord Herbert of South Downs | 457 c1784-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend might be interested in a practical example of the West Lothian question in relation t...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1785 (Link to this contribution) To be helpful to me, would the hon. Gentleman be willing to speculate on the origin of the West Loth...
Robert Walter | 457 c1785 (Link to this contribution) Let me crave the indulgence of Members on both sides of the House and make some progress, because I ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) Is this not why Westminster keeps getting itself into these kind of fankles? It ignores the point th...
Robert Walter | 457 c1785 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention because what happened in the case of Northern Irela...
Robert Walter | 457 c1784 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for providing confirmation of my original point, which is that the matter...
Russell Brown | 457 c1784 (Link to this contribution) My previous intervention was something of a fishing expedition, because I have already contacted the...
Robert Walter | 457 c1784 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for putting us back on track, however tempted I might be to respond...
Robert Walter | 457 c1783 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intriguing question, but remind him that this is a private Member...
Russell Brown | 457 c1783 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that, but I would have expected the hon. Gentleman to be here to support the Bill. The ...
Speaker | 457 c1784 (Link to this contribution) Order. We have a Bill before the House for discussion.
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1784 (Link to this contribution) The reason why my hon. Friends rise to press the hon. Gentleman is that we want some policy commitme...
Robert Walter | 457 c1783-4 (Link to this contribution) If hon. Members could restrain themselves, I am trying to answer the point raised by the hon. Member...
Russell Brown | 457 c1783 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to halt the hon. Gentleman in his tracks, but I am seeking clarification as to whether...
Robert Walter | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to anticipate the outcome of my party’s democracy taskforce. If it proposed an English...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that the good people of England should be given a referendum to ascert...
Robert Walter | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) London’s position in the world is due to its financial services industry and the power of the City o...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1787-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to pursue the London question a little further. Given London’s status as the capital of our U...
Robert Walter | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that the hon. Gentleman believes that we should follow that route, but I shall allow him t...
Russell Brown | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a splendid sport. I disagree with his comments about the Greater London author...
Robert Walter | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) No, the Bill does not mean that. As I said in answer to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. ...
Russell Brown | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Robert Walter | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that matter. He may disagree, but when I look at the position...
David Heath | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) In framing his Bill, did the hon. Gentleman consider the position of London at all? Why has the posi...
Robert Walter | 457 c1787 (Link to this contribution) Of course I am prepared to admit that the view that I expressed at that time was probably not the co...
John Denham | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) For the sake of clarity, is the hon. Gentleman simply telling the House that he was wrong to oppose ...
Robert Walter | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes his point, but if he wished to introduce legislation to reverse the d...
John Denham | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman referred earlier to the Welsh devolution campaign in which he was on the same sid...
Robert Walter | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that the island community of the Isle of Wight would necessarily share the hon. Lady’s...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the quota for a Scottish constituency is now the same as for an ...
Robert Walter | 457 c1786 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has obviously repeated, albeit more eloquently, my point that that is not the way...
Robert Walter | 457 c1790 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious of the time and need to make some progress. I am coming to an end, and hon. Members w...
John Denham | 457 c1790 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
John Denham | 457 c1790-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Member. He is talking about the important issue of which legislation would...
Robert Walter | 457 c1791 (Link to this contribution) As I understand the current situation, it is incumbent on the Clerks of the House to determine the t...
John Denham | 457 c1791-2 (Link to this contribution) It is something of a liberation to speak in a debate that is not directly about a Home Office matter...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1792 (Link to this contribution) I was just saying, albeit from a sedentary position, ““What about the other songs?”” Clearly, my rig...
John Denham | 457 c1792 (Link to this contribution) The other songs, which refer less than flatteringly to other south coast football teams, are probabl...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1792 (Link to this contribution) There are anomalies, but surely the issue is not just how they can be resolved but whether there is ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way. Does he believe for a moment that the people of the no...
Robert Walter | 457 c1789 (Link to this contribution) That was an interesting intervention. There is a genuine sense of injustice among my constituents. T...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1789 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman appreciate that the logical extension of his proposal is to create an En...
Robert Walter | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) It is clear that the north of England did not want a regional assembly. I think that the people of t...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1788 (Link to this contribution) Let us consider the popular will. The underlying argument for such a measure is a supposed massive f...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1790 (Link to this contribution) What about statutory instruments that pertain only to Scotland? What provision has the hon. Gentlema...
Robert Walter | 457 c1789 (Link to this contribution) There would be only one set of salaries, buildings and civil servants. We already have the ability t...
Russell Brown | 457 c1789 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has mentioned Stormont on several occasions. Will he refer to the findings of the...
Robert Walter | 457 c1790 (Link to this contribution) Statutory instruments that pertain exclusively to Scotland would normally be dealt with by the Scott...
John Denham | 457 c1796-7 (Link to this contribution) I have not seen that quotation and do not know whether it is in context. In any case, I think that t...
Robert Walter | 457 c1797 (Link to this contribution) I think that the right hon. Gentleman was making my point in a slightly different way. I agreed that...
John Denham | 457 c1797-8 (Link to this contribution) I accept that we should have a mature debate about whether any further changes are required in our c...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1798 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that Scotland would be a less important nation without the Union. Does he th...
John Denham | 457 c1796 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification, but it remains the case that in practice the real aspirations ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1796 (Link to this contribution) What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Has the right hon. Gentleman read ““The Politic...
John Denham | 457 c1798 (Link to this contribution) It is of course for people to determine their own future—I do not deny that—but when I see, for exam...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1794 (Link to this contribution) Surely the point of applying a Sewel motion to a Bill is not which Members voted on it and how it wa...
John Denham | 457 c1794-5 (Link to this contribution) The question of who is able to participate in legislation has none the less an important implication...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1794 (Link to this contribution) Does not my right hon. Friend’s reference to the Sewel motion procedure highlight one of the practic...
John Denham | 457 c1794 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The hon. Member for North Dorset was dismissive of the argument ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1793 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is known to be one of the most reasonable Labour Members, although those on...
John Denham | 457 c1793-4 (Link to this contribution) I sincerely hope that I am not entirely to be written out of the panoply of Labour power politicians...
John Denham | 457 c1792-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. In a moment, I shall highlight the fact that those anomalie...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1795 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend raises an interesting point about the length of a Bill’s passage through Parlia...
John Denham | 457 c1795 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks me to clarify the procedures, but in fairness that question is better directed a...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1819 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I absolutely endorse that. What is more, if the Labour party in government needed to think abou...
Shailesh Vara | 457 c1819 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there are many reasons why the present Chancellor of the Exchequer sh...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1819 (Link to this contribution) First, I agree that this is not about where one was born. There are plenty of MPs born in Scotland w...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1819 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman is not suggesting that with respect to legislation led by Members represen...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1818-9 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make a bit more progress. I agree with the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr....
Russell Brown | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) If Scotland sought independence and to join the EU, it would take a vote of the French people to san...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1820 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised to hear the hon. Lady say that, because the Prime Minister hardly ever votes for any ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1820 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way. Surely that would mean that that very Minister would n...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1820-1;457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the aggregate GDP of the British Isles is higher or lower with ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1817 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that given the powers of the Greater London authority, the Bill ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1817 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady cannot have read this Bill, under which English and Welsh Members would have a say on ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1817 (Link to this contribution) I return to the Greater London authority, which has powers over public transport, including the regu...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1816-7 (Link to this contribution) May I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) on his success...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1818 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should read the Bill. The London assembly does not make legislation, and I would ...
Russell Brown | 457 c1818 (Link to this contribution) This discussion comes back to a point that I made earlier. The Bill would open up a Pandora’s box by...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1818 (Link to this contribution) The Minister clearly has not read the Bill either. She may not have spotted this, but it is about ma...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1818 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Ms Smith) makes a good point. Under the logic...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1817 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady really should read the Bill, as she has misunderstood it. It does not suggest, for exa...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1810-1 (Link to this contribution) I, too, was interested to consider the consequences of the idea that, because particular Members of ...
Jim McGovern | 457 c1813 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most important powers that an elected Government have, apa...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1811-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a point that has already been talked about. The constitution is messy and it is...
Shailesh Vara | 457 c1813 (Link to this contribution) Given that this Chamber decides on financial matters and expenditure, how could the House of Lords h...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1813 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely right. Whichever party we represent, we want a Government who can command support...
Russell Brown | 457 c1814 (Link to this contribution) Regrettably, the situation would be even more complex than that. The hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, ...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1813-4 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. This Chamber should be the primary Chamber—it elects and t...
Russell Brown | 457 c1814 (Link to this contribution) I think that he is being thrown off a bridge somewhere. Given the geographical location of the cons...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1814-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point exactly. He knows, because he is more closely associated with the iss...
David Heath | 457 c1808 (Link to this contribution) Yes, absolutely. We should have a new Department that deals with all the devolved Administrations an...
John Denham | 457 c1808-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a little unfair on the Government in this case. There was a clear way forward—...
David Heath | 457 c1808 (Link to this contribution) There we are. Born in Swansea is sufficient qualification for involvement in Welsh matters, but the ...
Robert Walter | 457 c1808 (Link to this contribution) My birth certificate states that I was born in Swansea, which is in Wales.
David Heath | 457 c1808 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman shakes his head as if that were an extraordinary suggestion: it is not. It is a p...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1809-10 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) in three respects: first, on being luck...
David Heath | 457 c1809 (Link to this contribution) It is crucial to the principles of the Bill, Madam Deputy Speaker, if people in the English regions ...
Speaker | 457 c1809 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps Members could return to the principles of the Bill.
Jim McGovern | 457 c1808 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may have just answered my question, but for the purpose of clarification, will he...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1836-7 (Link to this contribution) Certain electoral matters clearly are reserved, although I suspect that if the Conservatives had mor...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1835-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Members who are present are clearly fabulous, but there could have been a greater number of...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1836 (Link to this contribution) For clarification to the hon. Lady and others on the effect of the votes of Scottish MPs, in the cas...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1836 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the intervention from the Minister, with that correction. The briefing that I have states ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1836 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Lady would acknowledge, though, that electoral matters are a reserved matter, so th...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1834 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry. I hope that I have made the taskforce’s work a little easier by ensuring that it does no...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1834 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the chance to speak in this debate on a subject of great constitutional importance. I cong...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1834 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman was out of the Chamber when the question of independence and federal...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1834 (Link to this contribution) The first problem would be much easier to solve, and devolution to the English regions would certain...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1834 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman overlooks the obvious option: independence.
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1833-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for filling me in on sections of the recent history of devolution in...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1832-3 (Link to this contribution) We could talk about Sark and Alderney, but we do not have time to do so today. There are further an...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1833 (Link to this contribution) On that point, my hon. Friend will be aware that the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNe...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1830-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an interesting and important point, which was unfortunately brushed over by Op...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1829-30 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) on bringing forward the principle...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1830 (Link to this contribution) Another problem with that proposal comes to mind. Say that on Report an amendment was tabled to a Bi...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1828 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely not. The reality is that if a measure is going to impact on Scotland, the SNP looks to de...
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1828 (Link to this contribution) Does that not underline the extreme difficulty of defining what relates to which part of the UK, in ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1828-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree fully; indeed, the hon. Gentleman has anticipated some of my remarks. Ultimately, the soluti...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1824-5 (Link to this contribution) I repeat that an English Parliament or an English-based decision-making process would have an impact...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1825 (Link to this contribution) Yet again I hear the words ““the Union””. Why is Ireland more prosperous per capita outside the Unio...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1825-7 (Link to this contribution) As has already been said, it took Ireland a very long time to get there. Why go backwards when it is...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1827-8 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) on promoting the Bill. The intentions b...
Russell Brown | 457 c1828 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman explain to the House why he and his colleagues and the Scottish Conservative ...
Russell Brown | 457 c1828 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman and others sensed a defeat of the Government, and nothing more than ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1824 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly my point. An English Parliament would be so dominant that were it able to make its o...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1824 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her kind remarks about Sheffield. My mother lives there and I am ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1822-4 (Link to this contribution) I must confess that I feel slightly guilty for participating in this debate, because I am aware that...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to be nasty about the French. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman agrees—I think ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is suggesting that Scotland might need help, but the only help that Scotland need...
Speaker | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman must be careful to use the correct parliamentary language in the House.
Oliver Heald | 457 c1821-2 (Link to this contribution) The fact is that there came a point when the Republic decided to follow what is loosely known as Tha...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) Scotland is a wonderful nation and I would certainly not say anything different, but the hon. Gentle...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) If it was not easy for the Irish Republic when it started, that was because of the very position in ...
Shailesh Vara | 457 c1805 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has just suggested that the Bill has about it an element of party political point...
David Heath | 457 c1805 (Link to this contribution) I am not saying that the Bill is party political point scoring. I am saying that the problem arises ...
David Heath | 457 c1805-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is wrong and he should listen to what I am saying. That imbalance means that Engl...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) I am hearing a lot about party political point scoring, but in Scotland both the Conservatives and t...
David Heath | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) There we have some party political point scoring, and we shall see. I am waiting with bated breath t...
Speaker | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) Order. Despite that anticipation, perhaps the hon. Gentleman could return to discussing the Bill tha...
David Heath | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker. My anticipation over-excited me to the point ...
David Heath | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) We could include the trade policy in that—President Livingstone in a little kingdom of his own. The...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1806 (Link to this contribution) London also has a foreign policy that would seem much more ambitious than that of either the Scottis...
David Heath | 457 c1807 (Link to this contribution) I have got two Scottish Members so excited by those remarks that I shall have to give way to them.
David Heath | 457 c1806-7 (Link to this contribution) I know what the hon. Gentleman is going to say. He is going to say that questions would be ruled out...
David Heath | 457 c1807 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should consider the fact that there is much more Government expenditure in my reg...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1807 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can enlighten the hon. Gentleman on why we still have Scottish questions. It gives Labour ...
David Heath | 457 c1807 (Link to this contribution) There is an element of truth in that.
Robert Walter | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) I will certainly come on to that point, although I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising it at such a...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) I had not intended to intervene at such an early point in the hon. Gentleman’s speech, but given tha...
Paddy Tipping | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) Given the way in which the Bill would take away voting and speaking rights from Members, would not a...
Robert Walter | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. This has been an important week for the pro...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1780-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way again, and I promise not to seek to intervene, at...
Robert Walter | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Lady, then I shall attempt to make some progress.
Lord Whitehead | 457 c1780 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman clarify a point in this very interesting disquisition on the Act of Union? W...
Robert Walter | 457 c1780 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right, and his point relates to the reply that I gave to our friend representi...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1780 (Link to this contribution) We are discussing an important point that goes to the heart of the Bill. To follow up the point made...
Robert Walter | 457 c1780 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to anticipate the hon. Gentleman’s speech, which I am sure he will make later in the d...
Robert Walter | 457 c1779-80 (Link to this contribution) I had not intended the debate to develop into a lengthy discourse on the history of Ireland, or any ...
Angela C Smith | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that under the 1707 Act of Union two countries willingly came together, whereas t...
Robert Walter | 457 c1783 (Link to this contribution) I anticipate, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the hon. Gentleman will provide us with all sorts of intere...
Robert Walter | 457 c1782-3 (Link to this contribution) If the House will indulge me for a moment, I will make progress. I want to move from the historical ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1783 (Link to this contribution) Is not the West Lothian question best answered with the West Limerick example of independence?
Robert Walter | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) I will get back to that, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Russell Brown | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Robert Walter | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) It was indeed 20 years ago. As I am no longer constrained by having to speak in an official capacity...
Speaker | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) Order. Whether the hon. Gentleman has certain responsibilities or not, I have a responsibility to ma...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my concern and surprise that the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo S...
Robert Walter | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. It was not my intention that during my contribution we s...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman attempts to reassure us that the problem would not arise, but the devolution sett...
Robert Walter | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) I regard my Bill as an entirely positive measure that would complete the process started through dev...
Jim McGovern | 457 c1777 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that the Bill would complete the process started by devolution. I am sure th...
Robert Walter | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) No alliance is created, because I am unashamedly a Unionist. I believe in the Union and I will conti...
Robert Walter | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) With respect, I will not give way as I ought to make progress.
Robert Walter | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) For the Scottish National party, of course I will.
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) I should say that there is no support for the Bill from the SNP. I would like to clarify a point: th...
Robert Walter | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) There were many debates in the House, and in Scotland and Wales, on the process of devolution, and i...
Robert Walter | 457 c1778-9 (Link to this contribution) It is Warminster school. The date that we are really celebrating is the date of the Act of Union wit...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way and not favouring the Scottish National party over me, eve...
Robert Walter | 457 c1778 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for anticipating what I will say. The English people already have 428 Members ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the economic policies pursued by the Republic have been Thatcherite?
Speaker | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sure that the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Walter) would prefer to get back to deba...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that Ireland would not be so prosperous if it was still ruled from Wes...
Robert Walter | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but in the early years of Irish separation and ind...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1840 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Had the people been asked about independence, I believe that they would have given that ans...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1841 (Link to this contribution) Shortly after the Bill’s promoter began his speech, he admitted that he wanted to entitle it the ““S...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1840-1 (Link to this contribution) Well, the Scottish people will be asked their opinion on independence on 3 May and it will be intrig...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1844-5 (Link to this contribution) This has been a good debate. I agree that it has been worth while and I hope that it continues. As a...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1845 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Lady would accept, however, that there was a solution in Northern Ireland, w...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1845 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman misses the point. As my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Martin Linton) said...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1841 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about embarrassing the Government. The Scottish National party does not nee...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1841-3 (Link to this contribution) The SNP will find itself embarrassed in the Scottish elections. We can deal with that when it arises...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1843 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that his arguments are fanciful? For example, he has talked about...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1843-4 (Link to this contribution) Not at all. As I have indicated and as other hon. Members have made clear, the Sewel motion procedur...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1846 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that it is true of many of my hon. Friends, but due modesty leads me to suspect that most ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1845-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. That would indeed be the logical extension of the principle. ...
David Heath | 457 c1845 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. It was never explained to us why, if the principle underlying the Bill was that on...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1848 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentions overseas markets. She will of course know that Adam Smith pointed out in ““We...
Robert Walter | 457 c1846-7 (Link to this contribution) The whole question about London and the Greater London authority is a red herring. The GLA does not ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c1847-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is missing the point. What is decided for London by the GLA and the Mayor will ve...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1837 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Lady is merely saying that they would be unable to get through a Bill that did not a...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1837 (Link to this contribution) The logical conclusion is that there would be, in effect, English ministries, with, say, an English ...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1838 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman anticipates my remarks, because I do not intend to sit down before outlining a mo...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1838 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is setting up Aunt Sallies that are not proposed. Her party says that there is an issu...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1837-8 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Were English people to have such a system, they should enjoy the same accountability as we e...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1837 (Link to this contribution) Of course, the hon. Lady will be aware that we have a Scottish ministry of education.
Jo Swinson | 457 c1839-40 (Link to this contribution) As I have already mentioned, I fully intend to talk about what I believe is the proper way forward. ...
Jo Swinson | 457 c1838 (Link to this contribution) No doubt there are communication issues that the Conservatives need to address.
David Heath | 457 c1838 (Link to this contribution) I think that there is a tradition that the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe is kept in t...
Robert Walter | 457 c1789-90 (Link to this contribution) I shall not go into any more detail on that, because I have taken up rather a lot of the House’s tim...
John Denham | 457 c1796 (Link to this contribution) If I can just make a little more progress. It is worth looking back at what the Conservative party,...
David Heath | 457 c1804 (Link to this contribution) That is possibly true, but we had Parliaments before that event, settled by an autocratic monarch—a ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1821 (Link to this contribution) The Republic was an aspiration of people in the south and they achieved it. However, if we consider ...
Robert Walter | 457 c1781 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He will no doubt wish to probe that point in Commit...
Shailesh Vara | 457 c1838-9 (Link to this contribution) Given that the clock is ticking on, it would be helpful if we heard a little about what the Lib Dems...
Oliver Heald | 457 c1795 (Link to this contribution) I want to reassure the right hon. Gentleman that there is no part of the United Kingdom where the Co...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 457 c1828 (Link to this contribution) Indeed I can. That decision was reached after much internal debate in the SNP. It became clear that ...
Mark Lazarowicz | 457 c1807 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman perhaps anticipated the nature of my intervention, but the fact is that we are no...
Robert Walter | 457 c1824 (Link to this contribution) I hope that I can help the hon. Lady. She has strayed into the sphere of taxation and Treasury matte...
Robert Walter | 457 c1779 (Link to this contribution) I thank you for that, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will return to the Acts of Union referred to earlier; ...
Subjects
Devolved matters Devolution Eligibility Greater London Legislation Northern Ireland Members Parliamentary procedure Scotland Reform Wales Voting rights Taxation Regional government West Lothian question
Legislation
House of Commons (Participation) Bill 2006-07
Act of Union 1707
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk