HC Deb 25 April 1988 vol 132 cc17-8
33. Mr. Allen

To ask the Lord President of the Council what recommendations of the Procedure Committee in the last Parliament have not been brought before the House for decision.

The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Wakeham)

Four reports of the Procedure Committee in the last Parliament have not so far been debated or implemented. They are on the allocation of time to Government Bills in Standing Committee; short speeches, a parliamentary calendar, and on the use of time on the Floor of the House. A Government motion relating to the report on short speeches is at present on the Order Paper, and I hope that this can be decided upon by the House in the near future.

Mr. Allen

Is the Lord President aware that in addition to the report on the ten-minute speech rule there are a number of other items, such as the parliamentary calendar, drawn from outstanding reports and including such matters as the timetabling of Bills, which many hon. Members think it is important to debate? When will the right hon. Gentleman find time for a debate on those and other outstanding recommendations of the Procedure Committee, and what is his projected date for the establishment of the new Procedure Committee so that new Members in particular may make clear how they regard the rules of this club?

Mr. Wakeham

With regard to the hon. Gentleman's second point, as I said on Thursday, I hope to be able later this week to table a motion setting up the new Procedure Committee. The hon. Gentleman asked about the outstanding reports of the Procedure Committee. I am having discussions with hon. Members in all parts of the House about the best way forward. The Procedure Committee concluded, and I agree, that it would not be practicable or right to recommend radical changes that would be opposed by a large body of opinion in the House. Therefore, I am trying to get as much support as possible for change. I hope to arrange a debate in the near future.

Mr. Marlow

Will my right hon. Friend ask the Procedure Committee whether it would have agreed with the Leader of the Opposition when he excused the hon. Member for Coventry, North-East (Mr. Hughes) who was thrown out of this House for interrupting Prayers, and when he said that he understood the hooligan antics of his hon. Friend when they disrupted the proceedings during the Budget which caused the sitting to be suspended? It seems that the Leader of the Opposition has changed his mind recently about the hon. Member for Edinburgh, Leith (Mr. Brown) although his Whips, of course, two of whom abstained, did not do so. In the past, of course, the Leader of the Opposition has supported many of these antics.

Mr. Wakeham

I hope that the Procedure Committee will be set up with general terms of reference. It will be open to the Committee to choose the subjects that it wishes to discuss, and it will be open to any hon. Member, including the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition or my hon. Friend, to give evidence to the Committee if he wishes to do so.

Mr. Heffer

In relation to the timetabling of Bills, will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that many hon. Members, when they first come to the House, are full of enthusiasm for getting home at midnight, if not earlier? When they have been here some time they understand that. on occasions, time is the only thing that the Opposition have if they are to hold up and properly debate Government Bills. That goes for all Governments. Before rushing into the timetabling of Bills, will the right hon. Gentleman consider that some of us believe that the Opposition have to oppose Bills when they think that those Bills are wrong? If that means that sometimes hon. Members, and especially younger hon. Members, have to go through the night, that is what ought to be done, rather than tying it up with the Government and letting them get away with things.

Mr. Wakeham

I note what the hon. Gentleman says. I hope that he is not accusing my or any other Conservative Member of trying to rush into changing the procedures of the House. I agree that proper discussion is necessary before we make radical changes to the procedures of the House.