Summer Adjournment

Part of Royal Assent – in the House of Commons at 5:37 pm on 27 July 2010.

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Photo of Chris Bryant Chris Bryant Shadow Minister (Europe) 5:37, 27 July 2010

It is a great shame that Mr Amess is not in his place, as I would like to correct something he said earlier. He referred to a much-quoted sentence when he said that this Parliament was the "mother of all Parliaments". In fact, this was originally said by the Liberal John Bright, but when he said it, he was not referring to this Parliament as being the mother of all Parliaments, but saying that England was the mother of Parliament. He, like many Liberals, was wrong as well, because the longest-standing Parliament was not this country's, but the Icelandic Althing, which first sat in 929. We should at times be a bit more careful about our history.

That brings me to the first issue I want to raise, which relates to the pernicious and now-published Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. It is pernicious because, for a start, it shackles together two issues that have no proper right to be in the same Bill. If they have to be in the same Bill, they should be in the same Bill as the other published Bill that provides for fixed-term Parliaments; it would then be a general constitutional reform Bill. Indeed, elements of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill presume that the other Bill is going to be carried, so there is an argument for putting all three issues together, but not just two.

The Bill is also pernicious because it will increase the power of patronage in this House. Cutting the number of seats from 650 to 600 without cutting the number of Ministers will increase the role that patronage plays in this House. I note in passing that the Liberals have decided to add yet more patronage by creating these rather strange Liberal Whips. The tentacles of patronage needed to keep this coalition together are, as I say, pernicious.

The most pernicious element of all relates to the process that the Bill presumes will happen. Accordingly, the Boundary Commission will draw up its four reports for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. It will send them to the Secretary of State who will then- I am not joking, but the legislation might be-

"lay...before Parliament...the draft of an Order in Council for giving effect with or without modifications" to the recommendations. In other words, the Secretary of State can draw up precisely what the constituency boundaries look like and this House will not be able to amend it because it will be an Order in Council. All we could do is vote for or against it. That is indeed pernicious.

The Deputy Prime Minister has referred on television and radio to the coalition introducing the best reforms since the great Reform Act of 1832. This is not a great reform Bill: it is a great patronage Bill; it is a great gerrymandering Bill; it is a great partisan shenanigans Bill-and it is also, incidentally, the great rotten boroughs (for Liberals in Scotland) Bill. In case anyone is not certain, I am wholly opposed to it.

The second issue I want to discuss is S4C, although I understand that this may not be a matter of scintillating interest to everyone in the House. We heard over the weekend that the Government are going to cut the funding for S4C by 6% every year for the next four years. This has not, of course, been announced to the House, but I understand that S4C has been told about it. The funding of S4C is laid down in statute. In order to change its funding-I think it would be a big mistake to take £24 million out of the Welsh broadcasting economy-the Government would introduce primary legislation, unless they are doing some kind of dodgy deal in the background which they are not prepared to tell us about in the House.

I urge the Deputy Leader of the House to reply to each of the issues that I am raising, or to ensure that Ministers do so. I believe that, as we move into a fully digital era, the existence of S4C is all the more important for my constituents. It enables them to see Welsh coverage on television, not only in the Welsh language but, increasingly, in the English language.

I also urge the Deputy Leader of the House to consider the issue of the funding of the BBC. Many people in this country believe that the BBC is one of the greatest institutions that Britain has ever given to our society and to the world. We all have our complaints about individual journalists-about their being biased, or not biased-but the honest truth is that around the world, the BBC and the World Service are well respected and admired. Let me say to the Government that anyone in any other country would be astounded at the thought that we would cut the funding of the BBC by any significant amount.

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anne greagsby
Posted on 19 Aug 2010 1:09 pm (Report this annotation)

I wonder if Chris Bryant is aware that Private Eye has told us he was given a cheque for £2,500 from Bell Pottinger just before the election. Is this to aid his lobbying for the Metrix consortiuum!!!