Programming of Bills

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:12 pm on 26 October 2004.

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Photo of Richard Shepherd Richard Shepherd Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills 4:12, 26 October 2004

I am truly grateful to my hon. Friend, who is a member of the Procedure Committee. That Committee used to be considered the most senior of all Committees, in the sense that it dealt with a matter of great importance to us all as ordinary Back Benchers and Members of this House; there is no disputing that fact. My hon. Friend's understanding of such matters has given greater flesh to the bones of an argument that I am making, have made and will continue to make during my parliamentary career. I agree absolutely with what he is saying, and we know the practice to which he refers.

We in this House often speak as if we have created some paradise, yet it is now insignificant in people's minds but for an occasional outburst on issues such as war. This will be the Parliament of war; that is what this issue is really about. Our deliberations on matters such as communications, criminal justice, planning and compulsory purchase and local government are not considered properly in Committee; they are truncated and half-done. They are the background to what is now the majesty and presumption of Executive Government.

The House has a personality. I have tried to make the point that we are all only temporary Members here. Others will succeed us, as others have preceded us. The present Government are just part of the passage of the long life of a nation. The central function of the rules—the rules, like court rules, that govern the way in which we contest the propositions of Executive Government—is to be more permanent.

When the electorate vote, they are effectively settling the question of who should be the Executive, but that is all. They are not settling the detail of page 83 of a manifesto. The electorate cannot possibly know the precise intentions of the Government's Criminal Justice Bill or be aware of the 106 clauses and schedules, stand parts and so on that were not reached. They do not know, so our job is to tickle out and challenge. That is the job of every Member of this House of Commons who is not a member of the Executive; to satisfy themselves, on behalf of their constituents, whether something is appropriate or right. That is our purpose and function.

I seek no office, but I want to know that I am a free man in a free country, in which I can say to the leader of the Government, "You are wrong, and here are the reasons why". However, these scheduling arrangements, timetables and guillotines deny the representative of Aldridge-Brownhills, the triple-barrelled constituency in Ayrshire or wherever the opportunity to examine the details.

I was not intending to make a long speech, because the House has been wearied by my views on this matter for a long period.