Whitsun Adjournment

I accept that entirely. I am simply identifying the agents of reaction—the ones we sometimes see glaring at Members at the entrance to the Aye or No Lobby when they feel that those Members are not doing what they have been told to do. We need to address exactly the issues that the hon. Member for Nottingham, North has set out. For instance, he mentioned a business committee: how long have we been saying that it is for this House to decide the business, and not the Executive? The Executive put Bills before the House for approval, and it is our job to scrutinise them. It is not the House's job to help and assist the Government to whisk a Bill through the House before it can be properly scrutinised. Proper scrutiny can take place only when the responsibility for setting the business of the House has been taken from the Executive. That is not their business: it is ours, and we should take back responsibility for it. There are many things that we can do to make the House better able to hold the Government of the day to account, but I would go further and say that the problem is not confined to Parliament. There is a real crisis throughout this country's democratic structures. People increasingly feel disaffected and disconnected from the political process, and that is getting more pronounced every year. They feel powerless, and believe that their MPs either do not represent them properly or are incapable of changing decisions taken by unseen bureaucrats and agencies. They feel that local councils do not have the powers to make local decisions on their behalf that they believed were invested in them because—again—such decisions are so often matters for an agency or a Government Department, at either regional or national level. As a result, councils find that they are being second guessed when it comes to their administrative responsibilities. Very often, things happen that are entirely contrary to the wishes and needs of local communities simply because someone who is unaccountable says so. Nobody appears able to change such decisions.