Recall of MPs Bill

Debate between Jim Hood and Jim Dowd

Monday 27th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jim Dowd]

I am not entirely unsympathetic to the thrust of the amendments tabled by the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), but for one reason above all others—I think this is the Government’s reason—I am not yet convinced that I will vote for them. We must understand what the threshold is for the process. The Government’s position, even though I do not support it in total, is that a single set of circumstances can deal with this issue. New clause 2 has no threshold, so therefore if one process was concluded unsuccessfully, it would not stop somebody from starting the whole process again. Can the hon. Lady give me any guarantee that that would not happen, once people had been subjected to this measure, and given the damage that even the question of facing recall could do to an individual—

[The Temporary Chair (Mr Jim Hood)]

Order. Interventions must be a lot shorter than that, and not replaced by speeches.