Business of the House

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I agree that this is an important issue, and I hope that it is possible to find time for a debate. In response to the hon. Lady’s first point, let me say that any commitments given by the coalition Government on this subject will be honoured.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

The Leader of the House is rapidly becoming my hero for the way in which he is putting Parliament first, but there are dark forces within the Government who cannot bear the loss of control. Will the Leader of the House—no, will Sir George—slay this dragon by ensuring that Back-Bench business is put on prime days of the week?

[Sir George Young]

I am enormously grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind words. There are no dark forces whatsoever in this Government. We are all enlightened people determined to strengthen Parliament. I repeat for my hon. Friend the assurance I gave to the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel). We are aware of the Backbench Business Committee’s concern to get access to other days of the week. We will bear that in mind when we take future decisions about which days to allocate to that Committee.