Business of the House

Pete Wishart Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I echo my hon. Friend’s praise for the emergency services and for his constituents—I was taken with the reports that the Red Cross, for example, was reaching out to people and giving them support. I know that they worked together around the clock in partnership with the Highways Agency and I, too, pay tribute to them. The extreme weather, which was probably experienced to a greater extent in much of northern Europe, had a heavy impact on the south of this country—

[Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)]

And Scotland.

[Mr Lansley]

And, indeed, on other parts of the country. I note the request for a statement from my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith). I do not anticipate a statement from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State at the moment, but I can assure my hon. Friend that we constantly learn from what happens and apply those lessons in ensuring that we minimise disruption to the public and business during severe weather.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Last but certainly not least, I call Pete Wishart.

[Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Surely we will have a debate to mark the 10th anniversary of the invasion and the war in Iraq. Iraq remains our most damaging and appalling foreign policy adventure ever, with more than 100,000 dead and the region destabilised. I was in the House with the right hon. Gentleman when we listened to the nonsense and the lies from the Labour Government on the case for war. Surely we should revisit that next week.

[Mr Lansley]

I was in the House, as the hon. Gentleman recalls, at the time of the debate leading up to the invasion of Iraq—[Interruption.]—and did not vote for it. The shadow Leader of the House is wrong in her intervention from a sedentary position. The hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) will be aware that a number of hon. Members have sought such a debate from the Backbench Business Committee. From the Government’s point of view, that is a matter for the Committee, but we are only too aware of the prospect of the Chilcot review coming forward at some point, and the importance of being able to debate and understand all the circumstances leading up to that decision in the light of the Chilcot review when it is published.