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§ Mr. David Maclean (Penrith and The Border)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I wish to make a brief, but nevertheless important, point of order concerning the rights of this House, the rights of Members and the danger that precedent may be broken today. I understand that there is to be a statement today on House of Lords reform. Having checked precedent, I discovered that—going back to the time of Asquith and, more recently, in Harold Wilson's time as Prime Minister—major statements on House of Lords reforms and the Second Reading of Bills were given by the Prime Minister.
It is unusual for me to quote Harold Wilson, but in 1969, he said:
It is in accordance with precedent, Mr. Speaker, that any major legislative proposals involving major constitutional change, reform of our Parliamentary system, the constitution and powers of another place, should be presented to the House by the Prime Minister of the day."—[Official Report, 3 February 1969; Vol. 777, c. 45.]What can you and your colleagues do, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to ensure that all Members of the House have the same rights as our predecessors had in 1969, in other reform measures this century, in Asquith's time and in measures presented by Gladstone in the last century? If all those Prime Ministers thought it appropriate and right to report to this House on their proposals for major constitutional change—and were following precedent by so doing—surely the current Prime Minister should not treat this House with contempt, but should come here in person.If reform of the House of Lords is, in the view of the Prime Minister, an important people's priority, surely he should tell this House and, through this House, the people of this country what he proposes, not leave it to one of his Ministers.
§ Mrs. Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton)Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. When the House went into recess before Christmas, British troops were in combat in Iraq. It is also the precedent, on a matter of such gravity, that the Prime Minister of the day reports to the House from the Dispatch Box. I have waited patiently for the Prime Minister to come to the Dispatch Box to report to the House. Following that—
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Lord)Order. That is not a point of order for the Chair. It is not a matter on which I can rule; it is entirely a matter for the Government.
In respect of the point of order raised by the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Maclean), I have no knowledge of whether a statement is to be made today, but the question of who makes such statements is entirely a matter for the Government. His point of order, which is taking up private Members' time, should be made if and when that statement is made to the House.
§ Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde)rose—
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIs it an entirely different point of order?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIs it an entirely different point of order?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. Is it an entirely different point of order?
§ Mr. JackIt is entirely different.
I awoke this morning to radio reports that there was a significant development in terms of constitutional legislation. Details of it seemed to be available, in plentiful quantity, to the BBC. Can you assist Members of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker, by making clear whether it is a discourtesy to the House that that type of information has been made available, before being made available to Parliament? If the Prime Minister has had anything to do with releasing that information, perhaps you would care to deprecate that action from the Chair.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerMadam Speaker has always made it clear to the House that important decisions, if they are to be made, should be announced to the House first of all. Perhaps we can move on to private Members' business.
§ Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. I think that we have dealt adequately with that matter. This morning is private Members' time. There will be adequate time to discuss all these issues at the appropriate time. It is important that we move on to—
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIs it an entirely separate point of order?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerAll right, I shall take it.
§ Mr. BruceI know that the Chair is keen to ensure that the rights of Back Benchers are looked after. Before Christmas, I asked the Prime Minister a question at Question Time. His response was that I had my facts wrong on long-term unemployment among young people, effectively saying that I was misleading the House with the figures that I quoted.
I wrote to the Prime Minister last year, giving him the full facts and asking—
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. This is clearly not the time to raise matters of that sort.