Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill: Committee Stage

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his speech. I will address that point later in my own speech...

Obviously Ministers are drawn from Parliament. Does my hon. Friend agree that if the number of MP...

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. I will be drawing on it. Let me add, however, that ...

Why is there this sudden interest in money resolutions from the Labour party? I cannot find a sin...

The hon. Gentleman is an assiduous lawyer so he will know we are talking about the present. We ar...

The Government have wilfully plucked a figure out of the air, have manipulated the electoral regi...

Order. The hon. Gentleman cannot interrupt himself when making an intervention while referring to...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; I have gained further knowledge.

My hon. Friend’s Bill tri...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention and he is right. This is about democracy, about using...

Does the hon. Lady not agree that the Boundary Commission is an independent body that is complete...

No one is talking about political interference. We are talking about the initial instructions tha...

While we are still on the issue of the size of constituencies, does my hon. Friend recognise that...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We deal with cases that go beyond those on the electoral regi...

Does my hon. Friend also agree that there are variations in the propensity of certain groups in t...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend.

Further to those last two points, would my hon. Friend acknowledge that the amount of constituenc...

I absolutely agree. All hon. Members know that we deal with such issues and cases, and that we ca...

I believe that the hon. Lady is complaining that reducing the number of Members of Parliament wil...

I am not saying that this is just about an increase in workload. I am saying that the Boundary Co...

I am listening with interest to what the hon. Lady is saying. Will she clarify something for me? ...

Under the Bill, the number would be fixed at 18. The seats would be allocated on the basis of the...

I was elected on a manifesto that called for a reduction in the number of MPs to 600. How can I l...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will write to him and place in the Libra...

I welcome the chance to respond, yet again, on the subject of the Parliamentary Constituencies (A...

To follow the Leader of the House’s reasoning about what this Bill will cost the public purse, wh...

I will repeat it if the hon. Gentleman did not hear it, but I just carefully explained that the G...

The Leader of the House seems to be saying that one of the reasons why the Government will not ta...

I will come on to procedure, but the hon. Gentleman simply is not right. The Government are not k...

On procedure, there is a wider point than just the money. The boundary commissions, as part of th...

My right hon. Friend is exactly right. That is the whole point. The Government are saying we will...

There have been references to the boundary commission review as though there is just one review, ...

That is to be confirmed, but the right hon. Gentleman is correct that the boundary commissions of...

The Leader of the House is trying to blow this issue out of proportion slightly by making it soun...

The hon. Gentleman walked in late and did not hear the start of the debate. If he read his own mo...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is about a fundamental principle upon which our general...

My hon. Friend is exactly right on that. This Government are responsible for initiating financial...

Here we go again. Yet another debate on the Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill and yet...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that providing a money resolution does not spend the money? All it ...

Absolutely. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) made that point to the Lead...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The Leader of the House said that the Opposition were give...

That is a salutary lesson from the hon. Gentleman. He knows and respects his history, and knows e...

This is not an area where I have expertise, but my understanding was that the money resolution en...

The right hon. Gentleman is right that he is not an expert on this particular issue; he has just ...

I think I can help the hon. Gentleman a little by explaining why there have been several such exa...

I have a reasonably neat solution in response to the right hon. Gentleman. If the Government do n...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the right hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper) is undere...

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to remind us of some of the really important private Members’ B...

The hon. Gentleman accused the Government of having an aversion to private Members’ Bills, but he...

I do not think that I ever made the charge that this Government have an aversion to private Membe...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the reasons that the Government, under the current reg...

That is right. I am trying to be helpful to the House, as always. You know me, Madam Deputy Speak...

indicated dissent.

She is not nodding her head; she thinks that it is working satisfactorily. Okay, I may be on my o...

What my constituents and most people in Scotland, I think, got frustrated with and annoyed by was...

First of all, I am not a right hon. Member. For some reason, Scottish National party Members are ...

I hesitate to move the hon. Gentleman off one of his favourite topics, but does he agree that the...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I know that a lot of people want to speak, Madam Deputy Spea...

rose—

I will not give way. I have given way to the right hon. Gentleman before, and I know that Madam D...

Order. This is a well-subscribed debate. If colleagues stick to a maximum of nine minutes, we sho...

I am grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will be mindful of your injunction and try hard to stick t...

I thank my near neighbour for giving way. If his constituency was emasculated, as mine was, a dif...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, but the point about the Boundary Commission review is that...

Is not the point that a previous Parliament, which does not bind this Parliament, passed a set of...

I listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman, but he is not right. The previous Parliament passed a...

rose—

If my right hon. Friend will forgive me, I will make a little process because I am mindful of Mad...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I took a lengthy intervention from the hon. Gentleman, so I will make a little progress.

Th...

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the new legislation to which he referred made it far mo...

I do not agree with that at all. I would argue that the individual electoral registration system ...

Order. Just before I call the next speaker, let me be clear. When I said everybody could take nin...

We can all agree that boundary changes are needed. Our current boundaries are based on an elector...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his Bill. I think it does have some good points. First, on v...

I am not sure how relevant that is to this discussion, but I am a new Member and I do not know th...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the difficulty of getting private Members’ Bills th...

I would be quite happy if the House decided to have more Friday sittings.

I never expected ...

I find myself in an unusual position today, because it is a matter of record that I very much sup...

I agree with my hon. Friend’s arguments, but I also think my right hon. Friend the Member for Glo...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has jumped straight to the conclusion of my speech. I will c...

I want to take up the point made by the right hon. Member for Gloucester West when he said the th...

I understand that point.

In Cornwall, the proposed new boundaries will result in a cross-bo...

I wish to make a public service announcement, Madam Deputy Speaker. In case other hon. Members wi...

I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention.

The hon. Gentleman has my full sympathy when he talks about constituencies crossing boundaries. I...

I would not dare to comment on the sensitivities of Hull, but the hon. Lady has made her point ve...

I hope that my hon. Friend will agree that his point about Cornwall is shared in Wales, where the...

The boundary proposals throw up many anomalies in various parts of the country, which, in my view...

Before addressing the specifics of the motion, let me make a general point. I have no problem at ...

Has my hon. Friend observed that there has been absolutely no word from the Government that they ...

My hon. Friend is clearly psychic, because that is precisely the point that I was about to make. ...

I made a point earlier about Hull East and Hull West. There is also a proud fishing tradition amo...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Some absurd things are being thrown up by this review. Fo...

The hon. Gentleman is right to identify these critical issues that affect communities all over th...

The fundamental problem with the logic of the hon. Lady’s argument is that this is about the term...

Does my hon. Friend also agree with the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the prev...

I agree with my hon. Friend. It provides that stability and continuity and also, given the 7.5% q...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock), although I will be tak...

They were.

We have heard that a few times. Of course, I was not here at that time, but in my opinion, the ar...

I’ll have a go! The issue before us is that private Members’ Bills are determined by a queue whic...

Well, I think “Follow that if you dare” is an apposite comment. I thank my right hon. Friend for ...

The hon. Lady says that she does not understand the flaws of the previous Bill. The only way to c...

Order. Interventions need to be brief. There are plenty of people waiting to speak, and it is not...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. It is not that ...

I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend, and she is making some very good points. On that last...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I would not dare to comment on the sensitivities of ...

I hear what the hon. Member for Redditch (Rachel Maclean) says, but I do not agree with her. Howe...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, who may help me.

I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s comments. I used to feel very much like him, but does he agree ...

That might well be true but, to be fair, the boundary commissions must to some extent try to pre-...

It is a great pleasure to take part in the debate and to follow the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Dr...

My hon. Friend’s point about objections relates to my point about the proper consideration of the...

As so often, I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. What he says is right, and it links to my ini...

It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Michael Tomlinson), who...

Will the hon. Gentleman accept that the Government are not trying to kill the Bill? As the Leader...

No, the Government have essentially treated the Bill like the bins: they have put it outside and ...

I serve on the Procedure Committee with the hon. Gentleman and am always interested in what he ha...

I fundamentally object to the number of MPs being cut from 650 to 600. My view is that we could c...

The hon. Gentleman could always do what I did and queue up for the chance to introduce a presenta...

The hon. Gentleman is right, but the presentation Bill that he queued to introduce under