Hunting (Re-committed) Bill
9:45 am
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman makes a good and interesting point. Of course it is the established will of the House of Commons. There is no question about that and I am not trying to say otherwise. However, normally there is a Second Reading debate on the Floor of the House, the will of the House of Commons is established and the Bill then comes to Committee for careful consideration and scrutiny of the detail, not the principle, and the way in which it will work. The hon. Gentleman is saying that because the House of Commons decided to pass this measure by a majority of 200, we must therefore truncate the Committee stage as much as possible, which means that we cannot have time to discuss the Bill in detail or look at the consequences for the countryside—the will of the House of Commons has spoken, so we must rush this through. We are not allowed to have proper debate and scrutiny because the elected dictatorship on the Floor of the House of Commons has said that something must happen. The programme motion is a democratic disgrace. It prevents the Committee from properly considering and scrutinising the Bill's details. It brings the entire Bill and the Minister into more disrepute than they already are in.