UK Parliament / Open data

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

Debate on bills and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Wednesday, 24 November 2010, in the House of Commons.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
519 c294-372 
Session
2010-12
Department
Leader of the House of Commons
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. Explanatory notes also published (Bill 64-EN).
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Bills
House of Commons
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. Government response to the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee second report of session 2010-11 (HC 436).
Monday, 8 November 2010
Command papers
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) Order. We will not stray down that path, as the matter is before the courts. We must return to the a...
Jack Straw | 519 c309 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that I digressed, Mr Speaker.

Show all contributions (267)
Chris Bryant | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c303 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. Once again, the details of proposed new subsectio...
William Cash | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, but that was about the sense of outrage over what had been done. That could apply to a Budge...
Mark Harper | 519 c313 (Link to this contribution) I am listening very carefully to my hon. Friend. I think that he is confusing the two different proc...
William Cash | 519 c314-5 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. It is such a shame that more people are not here to hear some ...
Mark Harper | 519 c344 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. Indeed, I think I acknowledged that that had been the purpose for which the amendm...
Mark Harper | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not think so at all. At present, whether a motion is a motion of confidence is determined b...
Mark Durkan | 519 c360 (Link to this contribution) Just to reinforce the hon. Gentleman's argument, a case in point when legislation was forced through...
Chris Bryant | 519 c325 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for echoing a point that I made three minutes ago. I still agree...
Mark Harper | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend make that clear? Is he saying that the intention of amendment 4 is to ensure tha...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) Motions of no confidence are an issue to be debated later. Members ought to be speaking to amendment...
Chris Bryant | 519 c360-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend's support. He is absolutely right. However, I must confess to the C...
Daniel Kawczynski | 519 c306 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman neglects to mention the Lib-Lab pact in the late '70s, which I am sure he w...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c309 (Link to this contribution) Order. The right hon. Gentleman said that he had some rules. Could he have another rule, which is to...
Jack Straw | 519 c309 (Link to this contribution) It is the first time that I have ever been thanked for anything by a member of the Scottish National...
George Howarth | 519 c334 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that being a Member of this place carries with it not only a lot of privi...
Mark Harper | 519 c336 (Link to this contribution) At first, my hon. Friend said that this Bill would not provide any flexibility. Then he set out two ...
Christopher Chope | 519 c335-6 (Link to this contribution) I am against the Bill because of the lack of flexibility in it. From what the hon. Member for Foyle ...
Christopher Chope | 519 c337 (Link to this contribution) Where we all part company with my hon. Friend is on the issue of whether a 50% plus one majority sho...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c338-9 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to amendments 33 and 34. Even though I, too, am a member of the Political and Consti...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, and I shall come in a moment to the Hunting Act 2004, which is another piec...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Hoyle. That proves my point—the areas where we cannot go because they are before judge...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman, and I will come to the Supreme Court in a moment. I ...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) The process of getting to the courts takes time, and obviates the timetables in the Bill.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) Order. After such a long debate, may I inform the Committee that I do not propose to allow a debate ...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c341 (Link to this contribution) I was about to come straight back to amendment 33; I will not be led too far astray. Reference has ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c341 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are in danger of straying into amendment 6, and I would like hon. Members to come back. I ...
William Cash | 519 c341 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is relentlessly hunting out the provisions that will be referred to shortly. The ...
Mark Harper | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) There are several other groups of amendments, and we can expand on these matters further in due cour...
George Howarth | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) I accept what the Minister says about the timetable for the Committee stage on the Floor of the Hous...
Mark Harper | 519 c342-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend moved amendment 33, although many members of the Select Committee pretended that they...
Mark Harper | 519 c343 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the third guilty person responsible for the amendment.
Chris Bryant | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) I would not want the Minister inadvertently to mislead the Committee. He said that extra time has be...
Chris Bryant | 519 c344 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is right: we are not trying to make an enormous point. I simply wanted to tease out of ...
Mark Harper | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the shadow Minister first, because I said that I would.
Mark Harper | 519 c346 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Hoyle. As always, I will do as you instruct. I will now take the intervention from my ...
Jack Straw | 519 c307 (Link to this contribution) I am in favour of a fixed-term Parliament, although I would have wished it to be four years. So, too...
Jack Straw | 519 c306-7 (Link to this contribution) But the pact was not with the Conservative party. Sadly, in some ways, the Labour party is far less ...
Alec Shelbrooke | 519 c307 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the right hon. Gentleman, and I want to push him on the points that he i...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c306 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that there is no prospect of a general election for a number of years,...
Jack Straw | 519 c305-6 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to have the hon. Lady's endorsement. As we know, that was precisely the reason why, mirac...
Jack Straw | 519 c306 (Link to this contribution) I would like to have such faith. My faith in the Conservative party's ability to pursue its own inte...
Jack Straw | 519 c309 (Link to this contribution) I accept what the hon. Gentleman says and thank him for the compliment. I have a number of rules th...
William Cash | 519 c309 (Link to this contribution) I might have expected that the right hon. Gentleman would hit the nail on the head. He is really tal...
Jack Straw | 519 c308-9 (Link to this contribution) No, it would not. There is nothing in paragraph (c) that would, in law, prevent a Prime Minister fro...
Jack Straw | 519 c308 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an important point as to whether a Prime Minister anxious for a general el...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c308 (Link to this contribution) I am genuinely listening with an open mind to what the right hon. Gentleman is saying about a simple...
Jack Straw | 519 c308 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is a matter for the Chair, but I was simply trying to provide a comprehensive an...
David Heath | 519 c308 (Link to this contribution) Let me try to help the right hon. Gentleman, because I do not believe that he was here on the first ...
Jack Straw | 519 c307 (Link to this contribution) I will repeat that because I know that my hon. Friend must have misheard it:"““Immediate legislation...
William Cash | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) Following the Minister's intervention, may I take the liberty of correcting a point that was made re...
Jack Straw | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very important point.
Jack Straw | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) I accept that, and the history of the German constitution is very different from the history of ours...
Mark Harper | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) This is not a fancy tactic—I would not know one if I saw one, although if I did I am sure I would ha...
Chris Bryant | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) Is there not one other very significant difference between the drafting of the Scotland Act 1998 and...
Jack Straw | 519 c310 (Link to this contribution) We need to speak about possibilities in the real world. The only example in recent times that I can ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c299 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 33, page 1, line 22, leave out from 'if' to end of clause and add"'on an add...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c299 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c300 (Link to this contribution) Once again, I bring to the Chamber the apologies of the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen),...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) It is kind of the hon. Gentleman to stand up for my right hon. Friend, as I do frequently, but my ri...
George Howarth | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) I am filled with admiration at the extent to which the hon. Lady is managing to disagree with hersel...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c301-2 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady aware of the various bids for independence from Conservatives south of the border m...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c301 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady may not be aware of this, but my recollection is that the Scottish Conservatives did n...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c301 (Link to this contribution) No, not at all. I appreciate the political point that the hon. Gentleman seeks to make, but that wou...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c300-1 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to intervene at such an early stage of my hon. Friend's comments, but I notice that propo...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c301 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate my hon. Friend's point, and I find myself in some difficulty. I am happy to respond to ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. He is right, too, in his first point:"““Frailty, thy n...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that line from Shakespeare, too. The right hon. Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth) is co...
Peter Soulsby | 519 c302 (Link to this contribution) I commend the hon. Lady for the excellent job that she is doing in putting forward an amendment with...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c303 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the point. I thank the hon. Gentleman both for putting it so succinctly, and for p...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 519 c303 (Link to this contribution) To reinforce the hon. Lady's opposition to her own amendment, it should be pointed out that under pr...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c303 (Link to this contribution) But is not the difficulty for my hon. Friend and those on behalf of whom she is promoting the amendm...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c304 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The hon. Gentleman is right. We will debate amendment 37 in the next group, and I am sure I ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c303 (Link to this contribution) Let me explain further. The Select Committee rushed through its pre-legislative scrutiny process, be...
Mark Durkan | 519 c303-4 (Link to this contribution) This is not about subsection (2)(b). If it would assist the hon. Lady in arguing against her own ame...
Jack Straw | 519 c304-5 (Link to this contribution) Since my elevation to the Back Benches six weeks ago, I have put a number of supplementary questions...
Graham Stringer | 519 c305 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is being slightly disingenuous. Is not the most obvious reason why the Bill is ...
Peter Soulsby | 519 c304 (Link to this contribution) On pre-legislative scrutiny and the point made by the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr Shephe...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c304 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the hon. Gentleman is correct. I recognise that that is why he put his name to the amendment. I...
Jack Straw | 519 c305 (Link to this contribution) Of course. I was going to come on to that, but I am grateful to my hon. Friend for leading me down t...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c324 (Link to this contribution) Order. The next set of amendments deals with no confidence motions. I think that the hon. Gentleman ...
Grahame Morris | 519 c324 (Link to this contribution) I am concerned less about hon. Members' definition of a confidence issue than about whether that def...
Chris Bryant | 519 c324-5 (Link to this contribution) We will undoubtedly discuss the Speaker's certificate when we deal with later amendments. The Gover...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c325 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned Scotland. An election called by the Scottish Parliament during the peri...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c325 (Link to this contribution) I simply want to say that I agree with the hon. Gentleman; he makes a very good point.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c323 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sure that the Committee, like me, welcomes the history lesson, but we must stick to the ...
Chris Bryant | 519 c323-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, Mr Hoyle. I will address myself to you more directly. The point I am trying to make i...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c324 (Link to this contribution) Might that lack of clarity be a mark of the wisdom of past generations? They knew when it had happen...
Chris Bryant | 519 c324 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that is true. It depended on the Crown—that is, the Government or Executive—retai...
Christopher Chope | 519 c327 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept, therefore, that amendment 4 is the most important in this group? If ...
Chris Bryant | 519 c327 (Link to this contribution) I am enthusiastically in favour of having a vote on amendment 4, because it goes to the nub of the i...
Nicholas Dakin | 519 c326 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend think that such arrangements make things more transparent to the public? Super-m...
Chris Bryant | 519 c327 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I understand that for there to be a super-majority in this Parli...
William Cash | 519 c328 (Link to this contribution) In case there were any doubt about it, may I tell the House that I shall certainly be putting amendm...
Chris Bryant | 519 c325-6 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether I can carry the hon. Lady a little further into even greater acts of agreement. Bea...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c326 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman define precisely what he means by ““immediate”” in this context?
Chris Bryant | 519 c326 (Link to this contribution) Again, the hon. Gentleman is catching up with me; I explained that in my last sentence, but he had a...
Chris Bryant | 519 c326 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. Once the Speaker's certificate has been certified or provided, the general election sh...
Mark Harper | 519 c320-1 (Link to this contribution) Frankly, the point of order that the hon. Gentleman raised last week was nonsense. He did not give m...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c321 (Link to this contribution) Order. We should not be rehashing previous points of order. We should be dealing with the amendment....
Chris Bryant | 519 c321 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed. This is just about the process and the fact that it has been the convention in every Co...
Grahame Morris | 519 c319 (Link to this contribution) In reality, if a Prime Minister commands a majority in the House of Commons, instead of seeking to o...
George Howarth | 519 c319-20 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a typically good and well thought through point. I do not want to make a long s...
Chris Bryant | 519 c320 (Link to this contribution) It is a delight to see the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) back in her seat. She introduce...
William Cash | 519 c318-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend on that, but there was also the sense of outrage that was being expresse...
George Howarth | 519 c319 (Link to this contribution) Long before anybody else on the Opposition Benches supported amendment 4, standing in the name of th...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c323 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be familiar with the workings of this place, whereby a Prime Minister could ...
Chris Bryant | 519 c323 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House is chuntering away. I think he is trying to talk to you, Mr Hoyle, be...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c322 (Link to this contribution) Philosophically, this change has come about because of the practice of Prime Ministers choosing to g...
Chris Bryant | 519 c322-3 (Link to this contribution) The most important element of the Bill as a whole is the introduction of a fixed term. As the hon. G...
Bernard Jenkin | 519 c321 (Link to this contribution) Lion, maybe. I should like to draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to the fact that the parliamentary...
Chris Bryant | 519 c321-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That is true not only of his party but of the Liberal Democr...
Chris Bryant | 519 c321 (Link to this contribution) Of course I will give way to the lion of the right, as I believe he is now known.
Chris Bryant | 519 c328 (Link to this contribution) Of course, but I will not look for you to join us in the Division Lobby, Mr Hoyle. The Government m...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c329 (Link to this contribution) Mr Hoyle, I have a point of inquiry following your response to the Opposition's Front-Bench spokesma...
Chris Bryant | 519 c328-9 (Link to this contribution) Or she. I thought I just heard my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckha...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c328 (Link to this contribution) Order. It may help the hon. Gentleman to know that the Chair will decide on which amendments the Com...
Chris Bryant | 519 c328 (Link to this contribution) In case there were any doubt about it, I shall join the hon. Gentleman in the Division Lobby unless ...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c329-31 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Hoyle. I shall start with my first observation, which is that the test of each clause ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c329 (Link to this contribution) It is unlikely, not ruled out. The other point is that I am not sure that we will even get there. At...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c331 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) also gave us a history lesson and had to be remind...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 519 c311 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the higher the percentage of parliamentarians required to t...
Jack Straw | 519 c311 (Link to this contribution) If a Prime Minister really wanted to call an election of choice, they would not worry about the two-...
William Cash | 519 c311 (Link to this contribution) The Chamber is very empty, considering the significance of what is being done by clause 2. In a way,...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c311 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman as shocked as I am by the new constitutional principle that we are hearing fro...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c311 (Link to this contribution) Order. That is not part of the amendments before us, so Mr Cash, could you restrict yourself to the ...
Graham Stringer | 519 c312 (Link to this contribution) I profoundly agree with the hon. Gentleman. Are there not two very offensive things about this propo...
William Cash | 519 c311-2 (Link to this contribution) What I am saying, Mr Evans, is that the clause is being introduced without a mandate, using Parliame...
Mark Durkan | 519 c312 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not think that his case against idea of a special weighted majority for Diss...
William Cash | 519 c312 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's point is extremely sensible and full of common sense, which is what this Bill l...
William Cash | 519 c317 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is so determined to speak again that I am happy to give way to him.
William Cash | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) I understand that point, and the right hon. Gentleman describes a sort of invitation to pork barrel ...
Jack Straw | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) In that situation, the Government of the day would have worked with the smaller parties and said, ““...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c317 (Link to this contribution) I am getting increasingly impatient in one sense, but on the distinction between what is a confidenc...
William Cash | 519 c317 (Link to this contribution) I will now move on to the very question that is being discussed, which is motions of no confidence a...
Mark Harper | 519 c317 (Link to this contribution) I am simply participating in the debate. I cannot agree with the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) Well, Governments have resigned on the loss of such votes. Therefore, what constitutes a motion that...
William Cash | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) It is very rare that I say this, but I do not agree with my hon. Friend about that, because although...
William Cash | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and my hon. Friend is right on that point, because it is not just about the business; in my ...
William Cash | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to my hon. Friend for the last time.
Bernard Jenkin | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) It is worth reminding the Committee that the words on the Order Paper in May 1940 were ““That this H...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c318 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend's tolerance in giving way again, but the outcome of the vote in 194...
Christopher Chope | 519 c314 (Link to this contribution) When we talk about the law of unintended consequences, which applies big time to the provisions of t...
William Cash | 519 c313 (Link to this contribution) It is only because I have not completed my remarks that my hon. Friend's intervention seems understa...
William Cash | 519 c313 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. I entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman. Furthermore, there was the motion of no ...
Jack Straw | 519 c313 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman speculate on what he thinks would have happened if the two-thirds rule had a...
William Cash | 519 c312-3 (Link to this contribution) I am more than delighted to reply to the hon. Gentleman. Sparring with him always causes me great am...
Jack Straw | 519 c314 (Link to this contribution) It is good to see you in the Chair, Mr Hoyle. I defer to you as ever. I understand the Minister's p...
William Cash | 519 c314 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman demonstrates why many people thought that he was one of the foremost leader...
William Cash | 519 c314 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend with his customary originality brings into play a contemporary example. Imagine a two...
William Cash | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) I understand to a degree where my hon. Friend is coming from, but I am afraid that I am not attackin...
William Cash | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition's thinking is not a matter for me. I happen to believe that our present constitutiona...
Bernard Jenkin | 519 c314 (Link to this contribution) I cannot understand how Ministers can argue that the Bill takes power away from the Prime Minister a...
Mark Harper | 519 c315-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has mentioned the 1979 example twice now. As I said, the Bill would not change the si...
Jack Straw | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his generosity in giving way. May I illustrate the point tha...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c316 (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions must be shorter. I understand that the point has to be made, but I would be gra...
Chris Bryant | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) What happens if the Government table a motion calling for an early parliamentary general election—I ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think we are back discussing no confidence—
Mark Harper | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) I am not quite sure what my hon. Friend is driving at.
John Redwood | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) Another way that Parliament could do what it wished would be to repeal this legislation by a simple ...
Mark Harper | 519 c348-9 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, in the sense that this is an Act of Parliament and can be ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry, but I am making a ruling from the Chair. I feel that this is a debate that we are...
Mark Harper | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) Mr Hoyle, you are pointing out that we can discuss this at length when we get on to a later group of...
William Cash | 519 c348 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister inventing a new kind of leave, called parliamentary leave rather than paternity leav...
William Cash | 519 c353 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 5, in clause 2, page 2, line 11, leave out from 'Government' to end of line ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c354 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c349 (Link to this contribution) It was the Select Committee's intention to give the House an opportunity to debate these important m...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c353 (Link to this contribution) Before we come to the next group of amendments, I have the following announcement to make regarding ...
William Cash | 519 c355 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting idea, but that is not what the Bill says, although I am not criticising my ho...
Edward Leigh | 519 c355 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend remember—happy days—when we were Maastricht rebels? We defeated the Government o...
William Cash | 519 c355 (Link to this contribution) As the former adviser to Quebec in the Canadian constitutional dispute of 1982, I am not unfamiliar ...
David Nuttall | 519 c355 (Link to this contribution) Would not one solution be to stipulate that any motion of no confidence must specifically relate to ...
William Cash | 519 c354 (Link to this contribution) During the previous debate, we covered an enormous amount of the ground contained in this group of a...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c355 (Link to this contribution) The issue was raised at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Portcullis House last...
William Cash | 519 c356 (Link to this contribution) There is one simple reason why some of us voted for the confidence motion on Maastricht. I remember ...
Chris Bryant | 519 c356-7 (Link to this contribution) The last moments of the speech of the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash) sounded a bit like a trailer f...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c357 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that there are rules and conventions about when a motion before th...
Chris Bryant | 519 c358 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the hon. Lady is right about the strict rule. Her memory of the occasion is righ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c358 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. I made a mistake when I talked about a ““strict rul...
Chris Bryant | 519 c358-9 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that we agree because I am sure that that will mean that the hon. Lady will join me i...
William Cash | 519 c359 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an extremely interesting case. He has demonstrated that motions of confiden...
Chris Bryant | 519 c359 (Link to this contribution) I very much hope that we do. There are two elements to why this debate matters: first, the role of t...
Neil Carmichael | 519 c359 (Link to this contribution) Surely this debate about votes of no confidence is really all about the exercise of the Prime Minist...
Chris Bryant | 519 c359-60 (Link to this contribution) Because the legislation is changing that provision in two regards, one of which is the subject of an...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c331 (Link to this contribution) Of course, I joyously do that. Implicit in every line of the measure is the management of the House....
Jonathan Reynolds | 519 c331 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making another fine speech, which I am always glad to hear. He spoke about the...
Richard Shepherd | 519 c331-2 (Link to this contribution) I like the young new Member vigorously advancing an argument that I find so convincing. The measure...
Mark Durkan | 519 c332-3 (Link to this contribution) Many valid arguments have been made about this group of amendments by a number of right hon. and hon...
Mark Durkan | 519 c333-4 (Link to this contribution) I take the hon. Gentleman's point about trying to remove powers from the Prime Minister, but I am no...
William Cash | 519 c333 (Link to this contribution) I am well aware that the hon. Gentleman is pretty close to and talks frequently with those in southe...
Chris Bryant | 519 c333 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend does not like my ““immediate”” provision, but I shall suggest one reason why he is wr...
Mark Durkan | 519 c333 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises some wider questions, and you, Mr Hoyle, have said that the next group of ...
Mark Durkan | 519 c334-5 (Link to this contribution) I believe in the idea of a fixed-term Parliament. I am therefore not comfortable with the idea that,...
Christopher Chope | 519 c336 (Link to this contribution) I will not get involved in the detail of what is happening in Ireland at the moment. If a similar si...
Mark Durkan | 519 c336 (Link to this contribution) In Dublin, a budget needs to be passed and then people can make a legitimate judgment. The imperativ...
Christopher Chope | 519 c338 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, Mr Hoyle. I am sorry, but the right hon. Member for Blackburn, who is a former Home Secr...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c338 (Link to this contribution) Order. Such an experienced Member will know that the referendum is not quite part of this group of a...
Ian Lucas | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an extremely important and persuasive case. Is not all the evidence that ju...
William Cash | 519 c340 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is dealing with amendments to come and amendment 6. I take his point, but there i...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c340-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is of course correct. There will be extra layers and extra opportunities for lawy...
Tristram Hunt | 519 c341 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, and his knowledge of the Hunting Act is second to none. ...
Simon Hart | 519 c341 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman talking about a legal challenge to the validity of an Act or, as in the exampl...
Mark Harper | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) I do not pretend that we published a draft Bill. We did not, but we have not rushed ahead. We publis...
Peter Soulsby | 519 c344 (Link to this contribution) With the amendment's proposers having been at the receiving end of the Minister's criticism, I hope ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c342 (Link to this contribution) Order. I would like to stop this bickering between the Front Benchers. Let us move on.
Chris Bryant | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) What the Minister has said makes me rather more worried, and gives me much greater cause for concern...
Chris Bryant | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) That is even more worrying. The Minister is now saying that the Speaker would decide whether a motio...
Mark Harper | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree. I think that the Speaker would ensure that the House was clear both about a motion t...
Mark Harper | 519 c344 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that that is drawn out by the amendment, but I agree with the hon. Member for Foyle (...
Mark Harper | 519 c345 (Link to this contribution) In a moment; let me first address the question I have just been asked. Earlier in the debate, we ha...
Mark Harper | 519 c346 (Link to this contribution) Excellent; that is an excellent step forward. [Interruption.] I shall take it as one. Amendment 4 s...
William Cash | 519 c346 (Link to this contribution) Some of the Minister's remarks are so completely out of line with reality that I do not think I will...
Mark Harper | 519 c346 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman's proposition about the weighting of votes. We have set out a...
Graham Stringer | 519 c346 (Link to this contribution) This is a great constitutional innovation. In respect of these motions, can the Minister explain why...
Mark Harper | 519 c347 (Link to this contribution) I just do not agree with the way in which the hon. Gentleman has characterised this. We have said th...
Graham Stringer | 519 c347 (Link to this contribution) I understand the objectives. I am cynical about them and the motives behind them, but the numerical ...
Mark Harper | 519 c347-8 (Link to this contribution) There are two parts to clause 2. Importantly—some Members were getting this confused—a motion of no ...
Edward Leigh | 519 c347 (Link to this contribution) Just to be topical, what would happen in a situation such as exists in Ireland at the moment, where ...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c372 (Link to this contribution) Yet again, my hon. Friend is correct. We have seen no signal from the Government—I will happily to g...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c372 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman, who has yet again identified the matter as a cross-House, ...
Peter Soulsby | 519 c372 (Link to this contribution) On the point about providing clarity, does my hon. Friend agree that it is vital that amendment 37 i...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c371 (Link to this contribution) As ever, my hon. Friend succinctly hits the nail on the head. The Bill is a mess because the Governm...
Chris Bryant | 519 c371 (Link to this contribution) In relation to that, may I put to my hon. Friend the point that I tried to put to the Minister earli...
William Cash | 519 c372 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman spoke about his enthusiasm for the Speaker. Does he agree that we must make certa...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c371-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. I will not repeat my previous lecture on US constitutional history, but it w...
Cathy Jamieson | 519 c371 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, unfortunately, that is becoming a hallmark of the Government, partic...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c371 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that remark and I congratulate him, as well as the hon. Member for Epping...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c370 (Link to this contribution) I regret that I have been unable to be here as much today as on other days, but hon. Members will ap...
Gordon Birtwistle | 519 c370 (Link to this contribution) We heard earlier from the Labour Front-Bench spokesman about the grubby attitudes of Prime Ministers...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c370-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for those comments. As I was not a Member during the last 13 yea...
Peter Soulsby | 519 c371 (Link to this contribution) On the question of Governments using devices to avoid the will of the House, does my hon. Friend agr...
Sheila Gilmore | 519 c369 (Link to this contribution) My comments arose out of the confidence issue. If we have a clear definition in relation to confiden...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 519 c369 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have been listening to the hon. Lady very carefully, but she is beginning to use general la...
Sheila Gilmore | 519 c370 (Link to this contribution) Members of the Committee were dissatisfied with various Government responses, including that one. It...
Chris Bryant | 519 c369 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend is on the Select Committee, will she comment on its recommendation that there shou...
Sheila Gilmore | 519 c368-9 (Link to this contribution) As a new Member, I think that many of the public will be quite puzzled by some of the matters that a...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c366-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the shadow Minister is correct. I am sure the Minister will have very good responses to these q...
Mark Durkan | 519 c368 (Link to this contribution) With the exception of amendment 5, the amendments basically try to make the Bill more complete and m...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c365-6 (Link to this contribution) I concede that point to the hon. Gentleman. It was right to introduce September sittings. When I was...
Chris Bryant | 519 c366 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right again, and she is very good at saying the ““prerogative power of prorogation”...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c365 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and that power has been used by the Government many times. I have noticed over the past 13 y...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c365 (Link to this contribution) As I am a new Member, will the hon. Lady tell me which Government introduced the September sittings ...
Chris Bryant | 519 c365 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is absolutely right. This is one of my biggest worries. Ministers may say that the Pri...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 519 c364-5 (Link to this contribution) Amendments 36 and 37 were also submitted by the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee. I am ...
Dominic Raab | 519 c363-4 (Link to this contribution) This is my first opportunity to speak on the Bill. Before I deal with the specific clause and amendm...
Chris Bryant | 519 c363 (Link to this contribution) You would rule me out of order, Mr Amess, if I debated whether there should be confirmation hearings...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c363 (Link to this contribution) For further clarification, it is not only the First Minister but each of the Ministers that he or sh...
Chris Bryant | 519 c363 (Link to this contribution) I think my hon. Friend normally thinks of himself as a Thomas, rather than a Tommy, Mr Amess. He is ...
Thomas Docherty | 519 c363 (Link to this contribution) It might help the House to know that the Scottish Parliament has very specific rules about what coun...
Chris Bryant | 519 c362 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Amess. I thought that the hon. Lady was intervening on me, but I soon realised that sh...
Subjects
General elections
Fixed-term parliaments
Dissolution
Prime Minister
Powers
Divisions
Censure motions
Legislation
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill 2010-12
Link
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