Greg Mulholland
Main Page: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. The position has been and remains entirely clear. If a right hon. or hon. Member is going to allege misconduct on the part of another Member, there is a duty to inform the subject of the complaint in advance of making that complaint on the Floor of the House.
Mr Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman must contain himself; his appetite will be satisfied ere long.
It is in all our interests for us to operate on the basis that I have described. I thank the hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith) for giving me the opportunity to make the position absolutely clear.
Greg Mulholland
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Government have now decided that they will deal with Back-Bench business by ignoring it, not taking part and therefore not giving the House the opportunity to express a view. I do not believe that that is acceptable, Mr Speaker. Would you like to comment?
Mr Speaker
That is not really a point of order for the Chair now, although I could have an interesting discussion with the hon. Gentleman or other Members about it. How the Government react to individual Backbench Business Committee debates must be a matter for the Government.
I do not think that now is the occasion for me to enunciate an entire doctrine on the subject, but suffice it to say that I am hearing what is being said and attending to it rather closely. I am sure that the Government will want to respect the debates that take place under the auspices of the Backbench Business Committee; after all, the House, with Government support, established the Backbench Business Committee.