Speaker’s Statement

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Monday 21st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the hon. Lady. It is a genuine point of order, and my response to it is as follows. First, when I referred—I do not mean this impolitely—not to 29 March, but to 18 March, I was referring not to a motion on that day, which was indeed in the last Session, but to the statement or ruling I gave at the time on the same question convention. The ruling on the same question convention has not just survived from one Session to another; it has in fact survived for the last 415 years, so I do not think we need trouble ourselves unduly on that matter.

Secondly, I very specifically was making the point that the matter has been treated of as recently as Saturday, with a very clear decision reached by the House on the amendment to the motion, and therefore it would not be appropriate to consider that matter today.

Thirdly, when the hon. Lady inquires about whether a different formulation of words, or a section or subsection would render such a motion open to a different judgment on the same question and convention, I hope that she will understand when I say that I cannot possibly pronounce on that until I know the circumstances. I would have to see the particulars, and I am grateful for the rather vigorous nodding of the head by the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) who, at least on that point, seems to agree with me.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. In citing your ruling, you spoke of the importance of precedent and convention, yet earlier this year, when you allowed a motion that was unamendable to be amended, you said:

“I am not in the business of invoking precedent, nor am I under any obligation to do so…If we were guided only by precedent…nothing…would ever change.”—[Official Report, 9 January 2019; Vol. 652, c. 366-372.]

Can you understand, Sir, in the light of your comments, why some people perceive, perhaps incorrectly, that the only consistency one can find in your rulings is that they always seem to favour one side of the argument, and never the Government, who are trying their best to carry out the mandate given to them by the British people in 2016?

[Mr Speaker]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman—and I mean this very sincerely—for his point of order and, in particular, in the best traditions of his service, for his explicit, direct challenge. I respect that. No whispering behind his hands or muttering into his soup, or anything like that—he is challenging me directly. I do not agree with him. I think the consistent thread is that I try to do what is right by the House of Commons, including by, in many cases, minorities whose voices need to be heard. What I said when I allowed the amendment tabled by the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve) on, if memory serves me correctly, 9 January this year, was that the will of the House should be tested. It may well be that it had not been the norm for such motions to be amended, but I felt that the circumstances were different. Very specifically, I sensed that there was a very strong appetite for that amendment among several parties in the House, and a resistance to it by a very much smaller number of parties, and I thought that the will of the House should be tested.

It is true that we are guided not only by precedent, but I would say to the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) that just because we are not guided only by precedent does not mean that we are not guided at all by precedent. What one has to do is make a balanced judgment about what best serves the interests of the House. All I would say to him is that as recently as Saturday, at the insistence of the Government—and I think with the support of the House—the House met to deliberate on this very matter. Simply to allow the matter to be reconsidered two days later, on the very next sitting day, seems to me to be entirely unreasonable. Nothing that I have said by way of conclusion today flies in the face of contrary expert advice that I have received. I have consulted, I have taken advice, I have listened to people expert in these matters, and I have not been counselled that what I have said today is wrong. I have not been counselled that what I have said today is wrong, and I have a very strong sense that there is a pretty wide acceptance that on this matter my judgment, however inconvenient and irksome to some people, has the advantage of being procedurally right.

Prime Minister’s Statement

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Saturday 19th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call David Top Cat Davies.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

The people of Wales voted to leave, but many had concerns about a no-deal Brexit. Can I thank the Prime Minister for coming forward with a deal that respects the result in Wales and delivers on the concerns of those who did not want a hard Brexit? As the Welsh would say: mae’n hi’n bryd. Diolch yn fawr.

Prime Minister's Role in Creating a Safe Environment

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 26th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have another statement to follow in a moment from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. There is also a motion to be voted on and a further debate, so we must proceed. I regret that, because I like to hear everybody, but there is a moment of interruption today in a way that there was not yesterday. We could extend yesterday, but we cannot do so today and I have to take account of that. So unless there is a point of order appertaining to this particular exchange—

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

Can I make a point of order, Mr Speaker?

[Mr Speaker]

Very well. Point of order, David T.C. Davies.

[David T. C. Davies]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Could you confirm that it would be unacceptable under any circumstances for a senior Member of this House to say of a female MP: “We should lynch the bastard”?

[Mr Speaker]

Yes. That would be totally unacceptable. I am not aware of the particular circumstance to which the hon. Gentleman is referring, but I can confirm that that is totally unacceptable.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Monday 25th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

No adjudication by the Chair is required.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I do not wish to pay tribute to the right hon. Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin), but since he now seems to have installed himself as a kind of jobbing Prime Minister, could you tell me how we can hold him to account in this House?

[Mr Speaker]

I have known the hon. Gentleman for a long time, and he is not disorderly, but there is something to be said for observing the precepts of “Erskine May” in terms of moderation and good humour in parliamentary debate, and the right hon. Member for West Dorset (Sir Oliver Letwin) is always unfailingly courteous in his dealings with others. I think that the question was largely rhetorical, but in so far as the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) is seeking a response, what I would say in all seriousness is that the effect of—[Interruption.] Order. I do not require any help from the right hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands), who would not have the foggiest idea where to start. He was once a Whip; he wasn’t a very good Whip. It would be better if he could keep quiet. That is the reality of the matter. [Interruption.] No, it is not outrageous at all. [Interruption.] Members can shout as much as they like, it will not make any difference. The right hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham is perfectly capable of looking after himself. If he wants to chunter noisily from a sedentary position, he has to expect that there will be a response. I say to the hon. Member for Monmouth that these matters will be aired further in debate on Wednesday, and if he wants to subject the right hon. Member for West Dorset to appropriate scrutiny, the opportunity is there for him to do so.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 29th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. On a point of clarification, the right hon. Gentleman just suggested there was a relationship with Germany going back to the 1200s, but Germany did not exist in the 1200s.

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his historical exegesis, from which the leader of the Scottish National party can choose to think he can either benefit or not benefit. It is a matter for him, not the Chair.

Points of Order

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 20th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. The short answer is that I had heard nothing of that until he sidled up to the Chair and mentioned it. The practice has long taken place on the basis of co-operation between the usual channels. There is nothing unusual about the arrangement —it is very long-established and commonplace—but it does not bear upon or speak to the functions of the Chair. It is a matter that has to be agreed between the different sides of the House. The right hon. Gentleman is a very experienced Member of this House and he has registered, with some force and alacrity, his strength of feeling on the matter.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is it in order for former Members of the Houses of Parliament to take a seat at the Conservative table in the Tea Room and plot against the Government that they were once a part of? Would not those former Members be better off tending to their moats?

[Mr Speaker]

What I say to the hon. Gentleman is that who turns up at which table and says what to whom in the Tea Room might be a matter for the Administration Committee. The hon. Gentleman, who is himself an experienced denizen of the House, could potentially raise it, with advantage, with his hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford), who is not merely a distinguished ornament of that Committee, but in fact chairs it. As the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) knows, I am not myself these days in the habit of going into the Tea Room and I am not privy to these matters, but he has raised his point in his own delightfully understated way, with which Members on both sides of the House are well familiar.

Bill Presented

Offensive Weapons Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Secretary Sajid Javid, supported by the Prime Minister, Secretary David Gauke, Secretary Greg Clark, Secretary Damian Hinds, the Solicitor General and Victoria Atkins, presented a Bill to make provision for and in connection with offences relating to offensive weapons.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 232) with explanatory notes (Bill 232-EN).

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 14th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

In reference to the honour of the hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr Hepburn), I would simply point out that rights, standards and protections do amount to a pretty broad category, and he has behaved, as usual, in a perfectly orderly, if innovative, manner.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most fundamental rights is to decide who determines our legislation and where that legislation comes from, and that that is exactly the right that we are protecting when we listen to what the people have told us and withdraw from the European Union?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 7th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think that the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) is now conscious. He has a question on the Order Paper that is not entirely unadjacent to the subject of which we are now treating.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

11. On this very point, Sir, does my right hon. Friend agree that we absolutely have to continue our support for glyphosate, which protects the environment by reducing the need for excess tillage and to use other herbicides? With he continue to support this safe herbicide once Brexit has taken place?

[Mr Speaker]

Well done!

Points of Order

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am saving up the hon. Member for Ilford South (Mike Gapes); it would be a pity to squander him too early. I call David T. C. Davies.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. The news is actually that Juncker is confident there will be a deal next week. Is it not wrong to say that the Prime Minister is coming back empty-handed when there is almost certainly going to be a deal? Is it not the Europeans who are going to be empty-handed if they do not get their hands on our £50 billion?

[Mr Speaker]

That underlines the importance of not jumping the gun. I understand the hon. Gentleman’s impatience, but we must not allow this to become a spat between people who want to say that all is well and those who want to say that all is ill. I simply invite the House to be a little patient: these matters will be addressed by one means or another—almost certainly by the proffering of a Government oral statement—very soon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 14th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call David “Top Cat” Davies.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

22. Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Laughter.] It goes back a long way, and one day it will be no more.One of the innovative treatments that is being offered in my constituency that concerns me is the use of puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for children who identify as transgender. Does the Minister agree that an improvement would actually mean the restriction of such treatments for under-18s?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David T C Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 12th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call David “Top Cat” Davies.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

T7. Thank you, Mr Speaker. British-funded refugee camps throughout Turkey have been saving lives and preventing illegal migration into Europe. Is it now time to operate a similar scheme in north Africa?