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Debate on bill on Monday, 13 September 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Nick Clegg. The answering member was Jack Straw.

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. Second reading debate. Main question agreed on division (311 to 23). Programme motion agreed on division (304 to 27)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
515 c621-710 
Session
2010-12
Department
Deputy Prime Minister
Legislative stage
Second reading
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Dan Poulter | 515 c648-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to make my first formal contribution to the debates of the House. ...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c652, (corrigendum) 862;515 c652 (Link to this contribution) There has been much talk about hypothetical situations that may occur if the Bill is passed. A vote ...
Show all contributions (285)
Speaker | 515 c670 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must notify Members that, under Standing Order No. 47, I intend to impose a time limit of e...
Nick Clegg | 515 c630 (Link to this contribution) No, not necessarily; that is not an automatic consequence of the existing provisions. We are giving ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c630 (Link to this contribution) I really think that my hon. Friend is reading too much into the provision. The existing arrangements...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c630 (Link to this contribution) I am obliged to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will not all we have in those 14 days just be an auction ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c630 (Link to this contribution) We are seeking to strengthen and reinforce the powers of this House. The motion of no confidence wil...
Peter Bone | 515 c630 (Link to this contribution) At the moment, the situation is that if there is a vote of no confidence, the Queen will decide whet...
Nick Clegg | 515 c629-30 (Link to this contribution) The point of this change is that if the House no longer has confidence in the Government of the day ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c629 (Link to this contribution) I am absolutely confident of that. I will shortly explain why in further detail, because that possib...
Robert Buckland | 515 c629 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is imperative that the courts do not end up determining issu...
Laurence Robertson | 515 c629 (Link to this contribution) Earlier, the right hon. Gentleman said that this was partly about restoring the public's confidence ...
Peter Tapsell | 515 c629 (Link to this contribution) Before my right hon. Friend moves on to his next point, can he explain why, when he is putting forwa...
Nick Clegg | 515 c628-9 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman may be referring to the continuation of the existing powers to prorogue Par...
Nick Clegg | 515 c629 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that they have other things which they need to attend to. As I said, no-confidence votes ...
George Howarth | 515 c628 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for eventually giving way. If the measure is genuinely a t...
Nick Clegg | 515 c628 (Link to this contribution) As I was seeking to explain, our approach is first to acknowledge that there is a legitimate issue—[...
Nick Clegg | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make progress. I have given way plenty.
Maria Eagle | 515 c627-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way on this point. Is he saying that the proble...
Iain Stewart | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) With the Prime Minister having the power, subject to resolutions of both Houses, to vary the date of...
Nick Clegg | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly what we need to look at, and it is exactly why we need to consider whether the exist...
Elfyn Llwyd | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) Surely it is not in the interests of this Government or anybody else to have two major elections wit...
Nick Clegg | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) As I explained earlier, the purpose of that exceptional power is to deal with exceptional circumstan...
Jack Straw | 515 c635 (Link to this contribution) The Labour party manifesto contained a commitment to legislate for fixed-term Parliaments, as did th...
Nick Clegg | 515 c635 (Link to this contribution) I want to finish now. That is a hugely important break with the past, and exemplifies the reformist...
Jack Straw | 515 c636 (Link to this contribution) From a sedentary position, again, my hon. Friend prompts me to correct myself: Conservative Members ...
Jack Straw | 515 c635 (Link to this contribution) I note the hon. Gentleman's comments from a sedentary position, and he is often right about these ma...
Jack Straw | 515 c636 (Link to this contribution) Of course not. That kind of thing might go on in Stoke-on-Trent, but certainly not in Witney and the...
Nick Clegg | 515 c633 (Link to this contribution) First, that is precisely the position now, as the hon. Gentleman knows. Secondly, he is viewing the ...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c633 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. He is being assiduous, and the House appre...
Nick Clegg | 515 c634-5 (Link to this contribution) I would argue that the real cost is incurred by all of us when we are constantly on tenterhooks abou...
Nick Clegg | 515 c634 (Link to this contribution) What I was trying to explain was that the existing powers to pass a motion of no confidence will not...
Paul Uppal | 515 c634 (Link to this contribution) Is the Deputy Prime Minister mindful of unintended consequences? One aspect of fixed-term Parliament...
Mark Durkan | 515 c634 (Link to this contribution) Is the Deputy Prime Minister not being somewhat disingenuous in stressing that the Dissolution of Pa...
Edward Leigh | 515 c633 (Link to this contribution) Will the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that if, God forbid, our friends and Liberals were to walk aw...
Nick Clegg | 515 c634 (Link to this contribution) The Bill speaks for itself. With respect, this is genuinely not about the internal dynamics of this ...
William Cash | 515 c632 (Link to this contribution) It was not that point at all. I assure the Deputy Prime Minister that I am very much more concerned ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c632 (Link to this contribution) First, it is worth acknowledging, as the Chair of the Committee would do, that many other distinguis...
William Cash | 515 c632 (Link to this contribution) This is a very important constitutional question. The Deputy Prime Minister has just implied that th...
Nick Clegg | 515 c632 (Link to this contribution) As I have said, it is not only our view in the Government; it is also the view of a number of very d...
Nick Clegg | 515 c632 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Chairman can help us on this point.
Graham Allen | 515 c632-3 (Link to this contribution) In the very limited time that we had to look at this matter, the Clerk was the only person to raise ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c633 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification. I strongly agree with the hon. Gentleman, and we agree with th...
Nick Clegg | 515 c630-1 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make some progress. In the event of an early Dissolution, under whatever circumstan...
Speaker | 515 c631 (Link to this contribution) I understand that ““Erskine May”” states that, but how much detail has just been given is open to de...
Nick Clegg | 515 c631 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will acknowledge that I have merely referred in passing to a co...
Nick Clegg | 515 c631 (Link to this contribution) I shall finish what I am saying about this detailed and involved point. During that case, the House...
Jack Straw | 515 c631 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Will you confirm that, as ““Erskine May”” makes very clear, ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c631-2 (Link to this contribution) Not yet, as I suspect the hon. Gentleman might want to raise the point that I am about to mention. ...
Graham Allen | 515 c640 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that were the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee to have ...
Jack Straw | 515 c640 (Link to this contribution) I accept that entirely. Constitutional legislation is always complicated and we should always seek c...
Jack Straw | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) As it is to a Conservative, I shall give way.
Iain Stewart | 515 c639-40 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman concede that it is important to introduce this measure early so that w...
Jack Straw | 515 c641 (Link to this contribution) If I may first make a little more progress, I will then give way to both hon. Gentlemen. Had the pr...
Jack Straw | 515 c638 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to do that, and I put that absolutely on the record.
George Howarth | 515 c638 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend said a few moments ago that one reason why he felt inclined to give this Bill i...
Jack Straw | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) If I may say so, the ““and”” is disjunctive, not conjunctive—and I know that because I drafted that ...
Robert Flello | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that not having an opportunity in Committee to discuss that matter s...
Jack Straw | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I accept that. It will not be a pre-emptive decision for me to take, but one that will be taken...
Jack Straw | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) I have simply explained to the House, while the hon. Gentleman has been sitting there, that we are n...
Martin Horwood | 515 c639 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is scrabbling for excuses to oppose the Bill on the grounds that it is bein...
George Howarth | 515 c637 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, in all his newly proclaimed virginal innocence, for giving wa...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c636 (Link to this contribution) Can we take it that the right hon. Gentleman has also reached a completely dispassionate judgment, a...
Jack Straw | 515 c636-7 (Link to this contribution) Funnily enough, I had not thought of that. Perhaps I should have. It is not that I am innocent of su...
Peter Tapsell | 515 c638 (Link to this contribution) May I put to the right hon. Gentleman an historical example of how the Bill would have created great...
Jack Straw | 515 c637-8 (Link to this contribution) It is an unsatisfactorily prepared Bill—on that the hon. Gentleman and I are in absolute agreement—b...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c637 (Link to this contribution) Given that the right hon. Gentleman is giving us a catalogue of what is wrong with the Bill and what...
Jack Straw | 515 c637 (Link to this contribution) Let me say first, for the avoidance of doubt, that I have made no protestations of virginal innocenc...
Anne McGuire | 515 c638 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is quite right in saying that we accept the principle of fixed-term Parliaments...
Jack Straw | 515 c638 (Link to this contribution) With great respect, I anticipate that he would have been able to do so. I am not seeking to justify ...
Speaker | 515 c621 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister and I invite him to introduce the measure and address the...
Nick Clegg | 515 c621 (Link to this contribution) I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a little more progress. Although I understand that some hon. Members have expressed une...
William Cash | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) In advancing his rather remarkable theory about improving the powers of Parliament, can the Deputy P...
Nick Clegg | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a great expert in expressing his views regardless of what the Whips say. Whipp...
Peter Tapsell | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has just made a statement that the Prime Minister has made on a number of o...
Nick Clegg | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) As I said, the virtues of a fixed-term—[Interruption.] It is not a question of wisdom; it is a quest...
Christopher Chope | 515 c621-2 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that during the general election campaign the present Prime Min...
Nick Clegg | 515 c621 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I should like to thank the Select Committee...
David Hamilton | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Nick Clegg | 515 c622 (Link to this contribution) I do of course recollect what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said during the general electi...
Nick Clegg | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) It is not in the Bill, but it is a consequence of it. If we have fixed-term Parliaments, we need to ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is already doing it, so I am sure that there will be more opportunities for...
John Hemming | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) May I remind my right hon. Friend of the comments by the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn), ...
Jack Straw | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) Of course I understand why it is being done, but there is a lot of objection, and not just from the ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman knows, that is not a legislative matter so such provisions would not be ...
Jack Straw | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) On parliamentary Sessions, the right hon. Gentleman heard his right hon. Friend the Leader of the Ho...
Nick Clegg | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman can be patient, I will turn to that issue as it is a legitimate one. We had a ...
Pete Wishart | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) Was the right hon. Gentleman aware of anything else happening in May 2015? National elections perhap...
Nick Clegg | 515 c623 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a little headway on the detail of the Bill. The Bill makes provision for the next pa...
Nick Clegg | 515 c625 (Link to this contribution) Well, the right hon. Lady shakes her head, but she would not have liked elections to be held in the ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c625 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make progress before giving way again. Some hon. Members have asked, quite reasona...
Chris Bryant | 515 c625 (Link to this contribution) But if the right hon. Gentleman is to give us all the statistics, he must add that since 1832 the av...
Anne McGuire | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) I am astonished by the Deputy Prime Minister's comment that he would build flexibility into the legi...
Nick Clegg | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree that this is an innovation made on the hoof, as it has been discussed for decades. I ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c625 (Link to this contribution) With respect, the right hon. Lady is reading too much into something that is a perfectly practical, ...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c624 (Link to this contribution) May I put it to my right hon. Friend that these proposals, whatever the merits of fixed-term Parliam...
Nick Clegg | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) I will not compete with Herbert Asquith as well as with the right hon. Gentleman. The wording, as I ...
David Hamilton | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) I will go back not 100 years, but 10 years. Have the Government considered the other three nations o...
Nick Clegg | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) As I said earlier, I recognise that there is an issue there, as the hon. Gentleman says. That coinci...
Nick Clegg | 515 c625 (Link to this contribution) I am not entirely sure whether that last assertion is correct. The hon. Gentleman wants to give the ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make some headway on the next issue—
Jack Straw | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman mentions the Second Reading speech by Herbert Asquith in February 1911. I a...
Nick Clegg | 515 c626 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make some headway. The date of the next election, Thursday 7 May 2015, has also rai...
Nick Clegg | 515 c627 (Link to this contribution) I shall explain. It is not a simple yes or no choice to a referendum question, but raises a host of ...
William Cash | 515 c703 (Link to this contribution) In the memorandum that my hon. Friend issued this afternoon, he effectively attacks the Clerk of the...
Lord Harper | 515 c703-4 (Link to this contribution) That was not my recollection at all. I have dealt with the issue of privilege that my hon. Friend th...
George Howarth | 515 c703 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I think he will find, if he checks the record, t...
Lord Harper | 515 c703 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes some very good points, but I do not think I will be able to do them justice in ...
Graham Allen | 515 c701 (Link to this contribution) Is not one of the advantages of having a five-year or four-year fixed-term Parliament the ability to...
Lord Harper | 515 c701 (Link to this contribution) Well, I think I hear my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House saying that in principle that is w...
Lord Harper | 515 c701 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the Leader of the House made the point and I do not think it is different from what I have just...
Maria Eagle | 515 c695-8 (Link to this contribution) We have had an excellent debate, kicked off by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr Str...
Lord Harper | 515 c700-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) seemed to spend rather more time talking abou...
George Howarth | 515 c701 (Link to this contribution) The Minister should be aware that the Leader of the House said exactly that at business questions la...
Tom Harris | 515 c698 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has given the House a superb explanation of why this is a rotten Bill; anyone who cam...
Maria Eagle | 515 c698-700 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will do what he wants with his backside when the Division gets called; I am sure that...
Lord Harper | 515 c702 (Link to this contribution) Let me just make the point about Scotland and then I will give way. My right hon. Friend the Secreta...
Pete Wishart | 515 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way. He will have heard the strong representations in ...
Lord Harper | 515 c702-3 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the hon. Gentleman can have it both ways. If I were to come out with specific pr...
Lord Harper | 515 c701 (Link to this contribution) And I know my right hon. Friend always means what he says. The Bill's key principle is that my righ...
Tom Harris | 515 c701-2 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister understand that it is rather difficult for the House to accept that from the Conse...
Lord Harper | 515 c702 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) said, in the last Parliament, when Conser...
William Cash | 515 c702 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way on the subject of his memorandum?
Lord Harper | 515 c702 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I want to make some progress. On the subject of the date and com...
Jack Straw | 515 c643 (Link to this contribution) May I finish this point, and then I shall of course give way? Indeed, the hon. Lady might wish to an...
Jack Straw | 515 c642-3 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will first allow me to make this point, I shall give way. The Library alerted...
Jack Straw | 515 c643-4 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a second. The answer to all that is to go for four-year Parliaments. Among many...
Pete Wishart | 515 c643 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c643 (Link to this contribution) I shall in a second. Those people and parties would be burdened with two successive elections with s...
Jack Straw | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but I promised the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) tha...
Pete Wishart | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Nick Boles | 515 c641 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman criticises my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister for not giving ti...
Jack Straw | 515 c641 (Link to this contribution) I was just checking with my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) whether th...
Mark Durkan | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend rightly touches on many of the concerns about the timing of the Bill, given the...
Jack Straw | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) I am quite sure. I was in favour of September sittings and my hon. Friend will recall that they had ...
Edward Leigh | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) Of course, and then I need to come on to one or two reasons why I think that the Bill needs to be ch...
Edward Leigh | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is being very unfair to our Liberal friends. Does he share my understanding...
Jack Straw | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to get into too many hypotheticals, but it is a matter of public record that, speakin...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c642 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c645 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the hon. Lady is proposing the abolition of the Scottish Parliament and the Wels...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c645 (Link to this contribution) Is the coincidence of elections in different parts of the country not just a problem of our having t...
Jack Straw | 515 c646-7 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge the point that my right hon. Friend makes. I want now to deal with the privilege of t...
George Howarth | 515 c646 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend referred to my intervention on the Deputy Prime Minister as being about clause ...
Jack Straw | 515 c646 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. People say that such things will never happen, but I am sure...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 515 c646 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the ability to prorogue would also be useful to a Prime M...
Jack Straw | 515 c645-6 (Link to this contribution) Oh, she is—okay. I shall ensure that the Prime Minister is made aware of her views. Obviously, this ...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. Between the two sides this evening, we are having an inte...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the people of Wales and Scotland will be very touched that they have been remembered ...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c644-5 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the right hon. Gentleman's arguments. I am a newly elected Member, and I have spe...
Jack Straw | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) Of course I do and I accept the admonition.
Jack Straw | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Lady was in the House at the time, but I was responsible for that Bil...
Jack Straw | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) First, I cannot make that offer, not least because it is almost certain that it will not be me stand...
Pete Wishart | 515 c644 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct and spot on in his views on five-year fixed-term Parl...
George Howarth | 515 c651-2 (Link to this contribution) I have to tell my right hon. Friend that I am far too modest to consider looking at such statistics....
Jack Straw | 515 c651 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend should not do himself a disservice. Would he give a wider audience to the fact ...
George Howarth | 515 c650-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a useful suggestion, and doubtless he will expand on it if he succeeds in catch...
George Howarth | 515 c653 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that the hon. Gentleman is right, and that he is right about what would have been the outc...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c652 (Link to this contribution) It is inconceivable and against our traditions that a Prime Minister who proposes a war with the sup...
George Howarth | 515 c652 (Link to this contribution) It is always difficult to speculate about what would have happened at a given time if the vote had g...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 515 c655 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. and learned Friend give way?
Geoffrey Cox | 515 c653-5 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak on this extremely important ...
Geoffrey Cox | 515 c647 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman think of any other statute in respect of which the courts have declined...
William Cash | 515 c647 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman probably knows, I was very active on questions about the privileges of t...
Jack Straw | 515 c647 (Link to this contribution) No, and that is the point. The courts will decline to entertain arguments, and actions, about what h...
Jack Straw | 515 c647 (Link to this contribution) On the hon. Gentleman's first point, it would have been difficult for me not to notice that he had t...
Jack Straw | 515 c647-8 (Link to this contribution) Many Members want to speak and as I have spoken at some length I want to conclude. Legislation for ...
George Howarth | 515 c649-50 (Link to this contribution) May I tell the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter) that I have witnessed ...
Graham Allen | 515 c650 (Link to this contribution) It is possible, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) suggested, to devise a m...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 515 c676-7 (Link to this contribution) I am in entire agreement with my hon. Friend, and I am glad that he did not take us back to the loca...
George Howarth | 515 c680 (Link to this contribution) Let me be absolutely clear in my mind: is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that the electoral cycle nee...
Anne McGuire | 515 c677-9 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg). The style, ton...
Julian Sturdy | 515 c679-80 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to today's debate, as political and constitutio...
Julian Sturdy | 515 c680 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that at all. This is part of a constitutional reform that must bring back trust to ...
Julian Sturdy | 515 c680 (Link to this contribution) No, my point is that political uncertainty in the process that we have had—and that we had in 2007—c...
Gavin Shuker | 515 c680 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that for this coalition to keep on going positively for the economy...
Austin Mitchell | 515 c680-2 (Link to this contribution) Here we are in the second week of the great Liberal Democrat benefit sitting with a measure that is ...
Pete Wishart | 515 c673 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is absolutely right. The report from the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee...
Andrew Percy | 515 c673 (Link to this contribution) As interesting as it is to hear about what is happening in other countries, I am more interested in ...
Pete Wishart | 515 c673-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. The shadow Justice Secretary made that point earlier. We have l...
Anne McGuire | 515 c674 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Pete Wishart | 515 c674-5 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I cannot. I have only three minutes left and I have a few more things to say. We need a...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 515 c675-6 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Po...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c676 (Link to this contribution) I want to pick up on that point about the alternative vote and what the hon. Member for Perth and No...
Maria Eagle | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) I am striving to understand whether or not the hon. Gentleman is in favour of fixed-term Parliaments...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c671-2 (Link to this contribution) I was about to end my speech, but perhaps I can put the hon. Lady's mind at rest by telling her that...
Speaker | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are not discussing local elections; we are discussing fixed-term Parliaments. I am sure th...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are discussing the advantages of a system of fixed-te...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. Let me add that the turnout figures for the local elections in Leeds since 2003—30...
Louise Mensch | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making some interesting and valid points. Does he agree that the Government's stat...
Yasmin Qureshi | 515 c673 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that most modern comparable democracies, including elsewhere in the UK...
Pete Wishart | 515 c672-3 (Link to this contribution) ““R-E-S-P-E-C-T”” is what Aretha Franklin sang so heartily back in the 1960s. [Interruption.] From a...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 515 c667-9 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to take part in this important debate...
Mark Durkan | 515 c669-70 (Link to this contribution) When the hon. Gentleman uses the term ““devolved Administrations””, is he using a generic term? Is h...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 515 c670 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give that assurance. That is exactly what I mean. I think that this matter is far too ...
Roger Williams | 515 c667 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is very generous in giving way. Before he concludes, I would like to put on record th...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c670 (Link to this contribution) I will endeavour to complete my speech within eight minutes, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am glad that yo...
Alec Shelbrooke | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) I was going to raise that point later in my speech and say that it was a matter for further debate, ...
Andrew Percy | 515 c671 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend may be suggesting something similar to mid-term elections, but one of the problems wi...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c693-4 (Link to this contribution) Four minutes to go. Thank you, Sir. Bills of this nature rankle. If I think about it seriously, thi...
Speaker | 515 c693 (Link to this contribution) We have about eight minutes left, with two speakers to go. I call Richard Shepherd.
Nick Boles | 515 c693 (Link to this contribution) If people have to go to the polls only once and have to take seven decisions that will affect every ...
Mark Durkan | 515 c693 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman referred to the United States of America, where there are no rules on media balan...
William Cash | 515 c694-5 (Link to this contribution) The Bill was not in the manifesto, and the Prime Minister effectively conceded the case against it s...
Nick Boles | 515 c692-3 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree with the right hon. Gentleman on that point—I should like to call him my right hon...
George Howarth | 515 c692 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a witty and amusing speech, but does he really believe that the courts ...
Nick Boles | 515 c692 (Link to this contribution) I have always found it easy to disagree with academics on almost any subject, and I disagree with Pr...
Christopher Chope | 515 c691 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recall the evidence that Professor Blackburn, the constitutional lawyer, gave to...
Mark Durkan | 515 c691 (Link to this contribution) Did my hon. Friend not previously give an answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson), w...
Sheila Gilmore | 515 c690 (Link to this contribution) I am not suggesting that people cannot make separate decisions, but there are practical difficulties...
Nick Boles | 515 c691 (Link to this contribution) It has been a fascinating five hours in this debate, and I have learned a great deal. I have been va...
Nick Boles | 515 c691 (Link to this contribution) One of the great champions has not been called, but he has certainly intervened many times, and we h...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c690 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has just verified the criticisms that many of us made in respect of the importance of ...
Sheila Gilmore | 515 c689-90 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate. I will be brief...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 515 c690 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the hon. Lady is perhaps underestimating the sophistication and intelligence of her cons...
Sheila Gilmore | 515 c690 (Link to this contribution) We appear to have lost coterminosity entirely in Scotland, and that is an issue because the situatio...
Christopher Chope | 515 c687-9 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Luton South (Gavin Shuker). I agree with much of what...
Gavin Shuker | 515 c687 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, which the Deputy Prime Minister made earlier. Perhaps we...
Michael Ellis | 515 c686 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that most European countries have four-year Parliaments. Is he aware that Fr...
Gavin Shuker | 515 c686 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to clarify that. If there is a Division on Second Reading, I will vote with my conscience...
William Cash | 515 c686 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman going to vote against the Bill, although those on his Front Bench said earlier...
Gavin Shuker | 515 c685-6 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me in this important debate about the future of this place...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c685 (Link to this contribution) I would like to do so, but I cannot, because other Members are waiting to speak. The Opposition hav...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c684 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure. There is no harm in being honest about matters in the Chamber. The measure ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c684 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the point that I am about to make. We are discussing the transfer of power, and the ...
Mark Durkan | 515 c684 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady suggests that the Bill relates strongly to the coalition, but it is foreseeable that t...
William Cash | 515 c684 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that it is possible that the very fact that the Clerk of the House of Com...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c683-4 (Link to this contribution) We last debated this matter in the House on 16 May 2008. Contrary to what the right hon. Member for ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c684 (Link to this contribution) Yes. As ever, my hon. Friend makes an important legal point and we must not lose sight of it. We mus...
Austin Mitchell | 515 c682-3 (Link to this contribution) As a Member who came in on the wave of opinion produced by the Chartists—it seems so long ago—I will...
George Howarth | 515 c682 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recall that in the mid-19th century, one of the Chartist demands was for annual ...
Mark Williams | 515 c664-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be able to speak in this debate, and a particular pleasure to be called to speak...
Justin Tomlinson | 515 c665 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the same principle applies to having council elections on the sam...
Graham Allen | 515 c662-4 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to go over old ground—you might pull me up, Madam Deputy Speaker—but the hon. Gentlema...
Speaker | 515 c664 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are 15 Members in the Chamber who wish to participate in the debate. As there is no tim...
Pete Wishart | 515 c662 (Link to this contribution) We all very much enjoy the hon. Gentleman's evangelical speeches on behalf of empowering the House, ...
Graham Allen | 515 c662 (Link to this contribution) I will have to let the Minister answer that question in the wind-up. With the first Bill—on AV and b...
Mark Williams | 515 c665-6 (Link to this contribution) That is the debate that needs to be had. I took the Deputy Prime Minister's statement as the opening...
Mark Williams | 515 c665 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman's point, but I hesitate to agree because we are talking about nation...
Pete Wishart | 515 c665 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is on to a good point. I heard the Deputy Prime Minister say that a solution woul...
Mark Williams | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) That might well be the consequence. I would personally much welcome the Welsh First Minister, rather...
Anne McGuire | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) May I say gently to the hon. Gentleman that that stands in contradiction to the reply he gave to the...
Mark Williams | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady makes a fair point. That is why I differ slightly from the hon. Member for Perth...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 515 c667 (Link to this contribution) I enter this nationalist debate with some trepidation because, as an English MP, I have not been inv...
Roger Williams | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) In future elections to the Welsh Assembly, the constituencies for Westminster might not be the same ...
Mark Williams | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a telling point. It is one thing to have a general election and a one-issue ref...
Maria Eagle | 515 c666 (Link to this contribution) Did the hon. Gentleman not get the same impression from the Deputy Prime Minister as I did—that the ...
Mark Williams | 515 c667 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. I am drawing a distinction between a general ...
Geoffrey Cox | 515 c655-6 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment, if I may. So again I say to the House, it is not simply a done deal. It is not ...
Graham Allen | 515 c657-8 (Link to this contribution) First, I congratulate the members of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, many of whom...
William Cash | 515 c656 (Link to this contribution) I am following my hon. and learned Friend's arguments with great interest. In the Parliament Acts, t...
Geoffrey Cox | 515 c656-7 (Link to this contribution) I take my hon. Friend's point. However, in my experience of judicial review proceedings, no form of ...
Graham Allen | 515 c658-9 (Link to this contribution) As I would expect, my right hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. As we have heard today, many p...
Graham Allen | 515 c659 (Link to this contribution) I gladly give way to the hon. Gentleman.
William Cash | 515 c659 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is doing a great job with his Committee and I congratulate it on producing such a...
Graham Allen | 515 c659-60 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. One of the small matters of dispute that I have had with the hon. Gentleman over the years h...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 515 c660 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that the Bill could strengthen the standing of Parliament. However, as I und...
Graham Allen | 515 c660 (Link to this contribution) There are so many flaws in the Bill's drafting. The Committee, on the hon. Gentleman's behalf, has d...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c660 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman and his Committee, and for the evidence that it has taken. Howev...
Graham Allen | 515 c660-1 (Link to this contribution) Perfection may be the enemy of the good in this case. As parliamentarians, we are feeding on the cru...
Anne McGuire | 515 c661 (Link to this contribution) Given the adversarial nature of our legislative process, does my hon. Friend agree that some of the ...
Graham Allen | 515 c661-2 (Link to this contribution) It is not always possible to achieve a consensus, but technical issues—whether the courts might be i...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 515 c662 (Link to this contribution) I join others in congratulating the hon. Gentleman and his Committee on the work that they have done...
William Cash | 515 c631 (Link to this contribution) Will the Deputy Prime Minister give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c640 (Link to this contribution) We need to do it in the next couple of years, but we do not need to do it now. If the Leader of the ...
Jack Straw | 515 c645 (Link to this contribution) I have long been in favour of fixed terms. I could dig out correspondence I had with Margaret Thatch...
Mark Williams | 515 c667 (Link to this contribution) I agree absolutely. As ever, I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is a committed devolutionist, as a...
Anne McGuire | 515 c658 (Link to this contribution) Pre-legislative scrutiny is a valuable tool for the House across a range of legislation, and constit...
Subjects
Alternative vote General elections Fixed-term parliaments Dissolution National Assembly for Wales Referendums Parliament Parliamentary privilege Parliamentary session Reform Scottish Parliament Royal prerogative Censure motions
Legislation
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk