European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill

Lord Hanson of Flint Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons & Programme motion: House of Commons
Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

Has my right hon. Friend noticed that clause 36(1) says

“It is recognised that the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sovereign”?

Yet the Prime Minister will not give this Parliament of the United Kingdom the chance to fully scrutinise his proposals.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

My right hon. Friend makes a strong case that Parliament should have the opportunity to properly scrutinise what the Executive want to do. I do not think the Prime Minister has really taken that into account in his botched and speedy procedure and in his obsession with getting all this stuff through in a few days.

What the officials once said would take four weeks to properly scrutinise is now being done in one day. Colleagues on both sides of the House should simply ask themselves why. So much for Parliament taking back control. Parliament is being treated as an inconvenience that can be bypassed by this Government.

There is a crucial element to this. When we in this House deal with major issues for the country, we need the information and we need—