Rating (Agricultural Premises and Rural Shops) Bill
10:30 am
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
I rise briefly to welcome to you to the Chair, Mr. Benton, and to make one substantive point. When the Programming Sub-Committee met at 10 am, there was cross-party consensus about the fact that the Committee need sit no later than 10 pm. That came about because of a mysterious thing known colloquially as ``the usual channels''. In other words, the Committee's progress was agreed in the same way in which every Committee in the House has been for many years. This morning's meeting was entirely unnecessary and highlighted the absurdity of the programming system that the Government have put in place.
The other absurdity of the Programming Sub-Committee is that it is not recorded. It is, therefore, necessary for me to repeat the remarks that I made at the Programming Sub-Committee, so that they are recorded and those in authority might take note of them.
I am slightly less happy than my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford about the speed of our progress. The Committee is sitting in the last week of the Parliament, and there is a presumption that progress on the Bill will be accelerated. That makes detailed consideration even more important than during the normal progress of a Bill—in peace time, as it were. The time that we take to discuss the Bill will depend very much on the messages that the Opposition get from the Government on some of the important amendments and new clauses that we have tabled.
I hope that the programme is adequate. I have doubts about it, but I hope that we shall find ways to make it adequate. However, if the Government hope for the Bill to become law and for a reasonable degree of co-operation from the Opposition in hastening it through its remaining stages, they must carefully consider accepting at least some of the amendments.
Question put and agreed to.