Report from the House of Commons Reform Committee on Rebuilding the House

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:40 pm on 22 February 2010.

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Photo of George Young George Young Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 4:40, 22 February 2010

The Committee's proposition was that the business committee should meet and then put a proposition before the House, which the House could agree to or amend if it did not like it. That would be a more transparent and collaborative process than the one that we have at the moment, in which the business is announced on a Thursday and we have to take it or leave it. There is no opportunity to amend it or come up with a different version.

The Committee has talked of putting together the pieces of the jigsaw, and as its report states, the reforms will

"inevitably need implementation in stages."

I agree with that. No Government should be expected to put the whole jigsaw puzzle together on day one. Indeed, the Committee has not asked for that. However, I hope that what I have set out today will reassure the House that we are genuinely in favour of a more collaborative and transparent arrangement of business than has existed until now.