"Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is an exact parallel between the proposal in this Bill and what the Labour Government did in introducing the first direct elections by proportional representation for the European Parliament elections? Will he remind the House when the Labour Government held a referendum on …..." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"The hon. Gentleman surely avoids a key point, which is that the previous, Labour Government faced an inbuilt Conservative majority in the Lords and tried to compensate for that. The coalition Government then wanted to deal with an equivalent imbalance against them, and the situation is unsustainable. We will go …..." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"Is the hon. Gentleman aware that on D-day, when we invaded France, this Parliament was discussing Rab Butler’s Education Bill? Does he not agree that Governments, on balance, should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time?..." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"The alternative vote system can never be described as proportional representation. It is a majoritarian system. PR has never been put to the people of this country...." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"It is very clear that this is a coalition Bill. If the hon. Gentleman had been in the Chamber when the former Justice Secretary and former Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) was speaking, he would know how substantial the resemblance between this Bill and the …..." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"When the hon. Gentleman faced the electorate in his constituency at the general election, did he draw attention to the fact that he disagreed with his party’s manifesto on urging a mainly elected second Chamber? That is what the Conservative manifesto said...." Chris Huhne - View Speech
"As the House will be aware, the Government’s proposed changes to the feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme are the subject of a judicial review. Specifically, the Government have been challenged regarding their proposal to apply new tariffs for solar photovoltaics (PV) from 1 April 2012 to all new installations with an …..." Chris Huhne - View Speech