My Lords, I hope noble Lords will forgive me if I have misunderstood the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, but I think that he said that there was an exception to the rule in the case of some Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland who make it a point not to come to Westminster to take the oath. However, we have been talking about expenses and it should be remembered that the Members concerned are not slow to claim their full expenses, including secretarial expenses, and in some cases—I hope noble Lords will forgive me if I am wrong—I believe that they claim their allowance for living in London. I am very fond of Northern Ireland but I remember that a Member of Parliament from Northern Ireland, Frank Maguire, who may have served alongside the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, was famous in connection with a vote of confidence. Frank promised his electorate that, if elected, he would attend Westminster only when abortion was being discussed and for nothing else. We could have a situation whereby some Members of Parliament would not even be looked at by the proposed judicial body whereas others would be by reason of their non-attendance. That is where I see flaws in the argument.
Recall of MPs Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Martin of Springburn
(Crossbench)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 14 January 2015.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Recall of MPs Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
758 c816 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-12-04 15:44:43 +0000
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