John Stevenson
Main Page: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)Department Debates - View all John Stevenson's debates with the Leader of the House
(13 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberI congratulate the hon. Lady on totally dominating “Yesterday in Parliament” on the “Today” programme at quarter to 7 with her innovation of having an open session, where MPs were able to go along and ask for time for debates. I welcome that initiative—the reference to “Dragons’ Den” was, I am sure, meant in entirely complimentary terms.
If one looks at the days allocated to the Backbench Business Committee, one sees that two have been Thursdays, including today, and two have not. I hope that we will be able to maintain a balance in future allocations, without in any way devaluing Thursday, which should be an important parliamentary day. Last Thursday, for instance, 300 colleagues voted on a motion tabled by the hon. Lady’s Committee.
I should have said this in answer to the right hon. Member for Doncaster Central (Ms Winterton), but extending the Session will be conditional on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill going through. However, there will also be implications for Opposition days, private Members’ Bills and Back-Bench time. I recognise that, and I am happy to enter into negotiations to see how best to reflect the longer Session in increased allocations.
The coalition agreement makes a commitment to reaching
“a detailed agreement on limiting donations and reforming party funding in order to remove big money from politics.”
Could the Leader of the House make a statement about what progress has been made on that issue, and say whether such measures will include looking at trade union finance and support for political parties?
There is indeed a clear statement in the coalition agreement to reach a conclusion on party funding policy. My hon. Friend will know that the Committee on Standards in Public Life recently announced that it is holding an inquiry into party funding, which I welcome. I hope that we will be able to do something that the previous Government were unable to do, which is to reach a satisfactory conclusion on the issue—one that is fair to all parties and donors, and, importantly, delivers a system that the public can trust.