Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Adrian Bailey

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is quite right that later this year, responsibility for private sewers connected to the mains will transfer from householders to the water authorities. That is a welcome step forward that will remove the incidence of householders suddenly being confronted with huge bills for sewers for which they simply did not think they had any responsibility at all. I commend those who campaigned for that enlightened measure. It will have an impact of roughly £5 on the bills that people pay, but I think that is an acceptable price to pay for the security of mind that goes with the policy.

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Earlier, in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman), the Leader of the House outlined the position with regard to criminal sanctions for contempt of the House and the proposal of the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege in 1999. I am sure that it is totally coincidental, but those were the very points that I made in a letter that I copied to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House yesterday. However, we are living in a very fast-moving world. Will the Leader of the House examine the two specific provisions made in the 1999 report, and incorporate them into emergency legislation that I am sure would command support from both sides of the House?

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Adrian Bailey

Thursday 27th May 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am not sure that that directly related to the future business of the House, but the Deputy Prime Minister will be replying to one of the days of debate on the Queen’s Speech. I will make a point of drawing his attention to the comments that the hon. Gentleman has just made and ensuring that he gets a robust reply.

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Could we have a debate on the role, responsibility and competence of the Electoral Commission, following not only the well publicised problems during the general election but the less publicised problem that arose for Members such as myself who are historically described as Labour and Co-operative party candidates? We were told by the Electoral Commission that that description was no longer valid, which caused enormous confusion at a very sensitive time during the election campaign and could have disqualified us from standing.

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry to hear that, and I wonder why that name had not already been registered with the Electoral Commission so that that problem need not have arisen. A large number of people were turned away from the polling stations at or around 10 o’clock, and that must never happen again. We must ensure that those who want to vote are entitled to vote. I take on board the hon. Gentleman’s request for a debate, before our memories of the recent election fade, to determine in what ways the quality of the election and the way in which it was delivered might be improved.