Export Control Bill
10:30 am
Mr Richard Page (South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
Mr. Benton, I echo the Minister in welcoming you to chair the Committee, along with Mr. Malins, who will no doubt appear in due course.
I regret that I must start the proceedings on a discordant note. Conservative Members are in favour of the Bill, but we feel that the Government's handling of the whole affair has been lamentable. What I have to say will come as no surprise, as we had a preliminary discussion of the matter in the Sub-Committee that met yesterday. I want to register properly and firmly our concern that parliamentary democracy—proper scrutiny of the Bill—is being cast to one side by this cavalier Government. In the Chamber yesterday even Labour Back Benchers felt that enough was enough—the voting told its own story. These proceedings are following exactly the same route. Parliamentary democracy—proper scrutiny—is being flouted.
That is not the Minister's fault. Pressure is being put on him to rush these matters through. It was interesting to read in this morning's Financial Times that one of the Prime Minister's senior advisers has called for the Department of Trade and Industry to be scrapped because it suffers from a paucity of ambition and imagination. It is amazing that the Labour party has been in Government for four years and the fourth Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is in office. I hope that the present one lasts a little longer than her predecessors.
I am not making this point of order as a delaying tactic. Mr. Benton, you have been in the House long enough to know that Opposition spokesmen make long and detailed objections and points of order just to delay getting on with the Bill. I will not do that. I will not spend hours making my point because, as I said, we welcome the Bill—