Business of the House

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 11:45 am on 28 January 2016.

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Photo of Chris Grayling Chris Grayling Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons 11:45, 28 January 2016

Let me begin by echoing your words, Mr Speaker, and those of the shadow Leader of the House about Robin Fell, who has served the House with great distinction for many years. For those of us who have been here for a few years, it will be very strange not having him around any more, but it is a tribute to the way in which he has served the House that his retirement is being greeted with such dismay and such warmth simultaneously. I am sure that we all send him our best wishes for the years ahead, and we hope that he will come back and visit us sometimes.

Let me also touch briefly on the issue of Members’ security. Most Members will by now have received the details of the security package from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Obviously we cannot discuss it in detail, but I think it is a good package, and I hope that Members feel reassured by it. May I ask any Members who still have concerns to talk to me, to the shadow Leader or to you, Mr Speaker, so that we can address them?

There have been a number of items in the news this week about the restoration and renewal Committee. Members may have seen the press coverage. It is inevitable that there will be some chat about it at a time when we are discussing with Members of both Houses the point that we have reached and the options that may be available to us, but I emphasise that no decisions have been made, and that the Joint Committee will not report until the spring.

The shadow Leader asked me a number of questions. It is noticeable whenever he asks me questions that he never uses the Opposition days that I provide to debate the subjects that he has raised. I therefore hope that he will forgive me if I do not take his approach entirely seriously. I have announced another Opposition day for next week, but, again, the Opposition have not chosen to debate the matters that the hon. Gentleman has raised today. However, the Northern Ireland Secretary will respond when she is ready to do so; on the local government changes, the Secretary of State will be here on Monday week; the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be here next week; the announcement by HMRC, which is an independent body when it comes to these matters, was certainly made free of Government involvement; and the Human Rights Act details will be published when the Government are ready.

The truth is that what we have not heard this week, yet again, is the things that the Labour party is doing: no request for a debate on the fact that this week the party called for shared sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, and no request for a debate on Labour’s plans to turn our border controls into a floodgate. What we have now is the reasonable people in the hon. Gentleman’s party being threatened with deselection, and Neil Kinnock says his leader—the man he works for—is not up to the job and is unelectable. The man in front of us, the shadow Leader of the House, is the man who knifed Tony Blair. He will not even now risk his Front-Bench position to stand up for what he believes in. He asked me about the word “bunch”. I am very happy to use that word today: he and his colleagues are a bunch of spineless individuals who have not even got the courage to stand up for what they believe in.