Martin Salter: Given the appalling collusion that appears to have taken place-my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright) has proof positive of it-does the hon. Gentleman agree that Members who want to drive the agenda forward have no option but to vote down the business motion? Will he organise on his Benches to ensure that that happens?
Martin Salter: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his patience. Does he agree that we would not even have to go that far? The Government merely need to announce that they are prepared to table a revised business motion. If they did so, we could avoid an unseemly bun fight and an unseemly Division, and not detain hon. Members here too late tonight. We could certainly find the hour necessary in the plenty of time...
Martin Salter: Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that it is risible to hold the notion that the dewy-eyed political virgins that will descend on this place, irrespective of the outcome of the general election, will have as their raison d'être a reforming zeal rather than seeking, as all new Members do, preferment as quickly as possible? Is this not a matter that should be resolved in this Parliament, as...
Martin Salter: rose-
Martin Salter: Can the Leader of the House explain why we can find time to deal with two private Members' Bills and a statutory instrument-we are likely after a long night tonight to rise around tea time tomorrow-yet we cannot find an hour, and I must say that this will not take an hour, to deal with this Standing Order? It was promised in order to give expression to the will of this House and of a Select...
Martin Salter: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Martin Salter: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Martin Salter: I am bitterly disappointed that the motion to enforce the Standing Order is not on the Order Paper. The Leader of the House wanted to come to this debate but was called away by the Prime Minister. I am not in any way slighted by that, and I am listening carefully to what the shadow Deputy Leader of the House says.
Martin Salter: To misquote one of my contemporary political heroes, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin), whom I have come to regard as a friend as well as a colleague, this will be the last speech that I shall ever make as a Member of this House of Commons. It comes at the end of what some have called the Manure Parliament, at a time when the stench of corruption and personal greed...
Martin Salter: Briefly, as I am warming to my theme.
Martin Salter: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. As I will say later in my speech, the public want us to do more. There is a concern, to which I hope Members will turn their minds, about complaints to the Standards and Privileges Committee. I have been the subject of a vexatious complaint and ended up having to take legal action-I made history by being the first person to sue a sitting Member....
Martin Salter: I have drafted an e-mail to send to the many people who are prepared to stand up for Parliament and for representative democracy, and unless I receive a satisfactory answer, the button will be pushed. I want to talk a little about the unsung work that takes place here by Members across the political divide. I single out the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), who is leaving under a cloud...
Martin Salter: I could not agree more. Of course, we are talking about the very people who do not often go online or read local newspapers. We should be attempting to engage with all our citizens, not just the informed minority. I remain sceptical of people who argue that parliamentary reform and making the House of Commons more effective can be achieved by some kind of magic bullet and that proportional...
Martin Salter: I accept your strictures, Mr. Fraser. I want to put on the record my thanks to Reading district Labour party for sending me here to help to make the House of Commons more effective, not just in 2010 but in 1997 and during the intervening years. I thank it for making me its candidate in seven elections, in six of which I was fortunate in being successful. My deepest appreciation goes to my...
Martin Salter: This will be my last appearance at DEFRA questions. Members will be pleased to learn that I shall not be asking about fish, otters or cormorants. The session has, however, been enhanced by the notion of Sunday walk-by shootings in Bogota. The Minister will be aware of the 10-year campaign that I have waged on behalf of my constituents on the Haddocks estate in Tilehurst for the adoption of...
Martin Salter: The Minister will be aware of the hare-brained plan set out by the last but one Leader of the Opposition to abolish the anglers' rod licence, which was hinted at again this week by the current Leader of the Opposition in his Angling Times interview. Based on today's figure, that would mean stripping £24 million or 70 per cent. from the Environment Agency's fishery budget. This means no...
Martin Salter: Let me just put on record the fact that the decline in the numbers applying for migrant domestic worker visas covered 2005, 2006 and 2007, when the economy was in much healthier shape than it is now. Irrespective of the economic circumstances, the general trend is down.
Martin Salter: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. I think that what he has said is progress. To be clear, the Government are saying that the protection will continue beyond 2011, in its current form or a new, improved form.
Martin Salter: I did not hold back in my criticism of abuse by diplomats, but the nub of the problem that led to the Government introducing the migrant domestic worker visa-we have illustrated that it is working well-was that it affected not just foreign nationals; plenty of British expats were happy to behave as feudal barons in their own homes, and they were part of the initial problem that was identified...
Martin Salter: I hesitate to criticise a fellow Reading football club fan, and I know that the hon. Gentleman is supportive of the issue, but there is a certain strangeness in the argument that although it might be okay to right a wrong that affects 10 per cent. of people, the fact that we do not know whether it might affect 15, 20 or 25 per cent. is an excuse for doing nothing. Let me press the hon....
