Information for Backbenchers on Statements

David Nuttall Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hollobone]

I do not think that would be enough, which is what is behind tonight’s motion. It is not for the Prime Minister alone to say these things; it is up to us in this House to assert our authority over the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown. It is up to us collectively to say, “We are the House of Commons, rightly or wrongly, and all of us were elected by our constituents to hold the Government of the day to account.” It is not up to us, on matters like this, to take diktats from the Prime Minister. It is for us to say to Ministers, “If you have an announcement affecting the nation, we want to be told first”—not only because we were elected by the people to represent them, but because we can then question Ministers about the statements they make. If we get this right, it will raise the level and quality of statements because Ministers will know, as the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) said, that they cannot just spin things out to the media, as they have to come here and face our wrath first.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the real problem at the heart of the issue is the precise interpretation of the ministerial code, which states that “the most important announcements” have to be made “in the first instance” to Parliament? It is particularly the interpretation of “the most important announcements”, as opposed to announcements that affect the whole nation, as my hon. Friend said, that is critical. If it were to say “all announcements”, for example, there would be no doubt about it, and it would effect a change in Government policy. If that were to happen, it might go a long way towards resolving this problem.

[Mr Hollobone]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, and I hope that he, too, makes a representation to the Procedure Committee. The difficulty that we all face is that if the Government were to make all announcements on the Floor of the House, there would not be much time left for other business—Government or otherwise. The difficulty is striking the right balance between the most important policy announcements and the others.

We saw a very good example of that today on the occasion of the urgent question about the Office for Tax Simplification. I am perfectly prepared to accept that the Exchequer Secretary had very good intentions in releasing a written ministerial statement, but as a humble Back Bencher I must express my personal view that on a day when we were discussing Treasury matters, it would have made sense for him to come to the House to make an oral statement.

The difficulty faced by my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary lay in the need to achieve the right balance between what is a really important statement and what is not. Today Mr Speaker rightly accepted an urgent question because he felt that it concerned a matter that he felt needed to be discussed on the Floor of the House. However, I think that if we can clarify the protocol, with the guidance of the Procedure Committee and input from hon. Members, the Exchequer Secretary, if faced with a similar situation in the future, will be crystal clear about what should be announced on the Floor of the House and what should be released in the form of a written ministerial statement. That is an illustration of the fact that the present system is not working properly.