Business of the House

Philip Davies Excerpts

Thursday 20th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

The Government could not have been clearer about our wish to encourage more women to take part in public life, not only through seeking membership of the House of Commons and local authorities but through many other forms of public service. Successive leaders of my party have worked hard to promote that, not least my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. My party, unlike the hon. Gentleman’s, has a woman leader both in Holyrood and at Westminster.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

The right hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) has been an outstanding Member of Parliament. Her successor, whoever they may be, has an incredibly difficult act to follow.

Will the Leader of the House confirm that the Prisons and Courts Bill has been abandoned for this Parliament and will have to start its passage through the House again in the next Parliament? Can he tell us which Bills will be going through the rather grubby process of the wash-up, which is a rather unsatisfactory way to pass laws?

[Mr Lidington]

The Bills that were introduced to this House quite late in the current parliamentary Session and which received carry-over motions so that they could be debated in what would have been the third Session of this Parliament, including the Prisons and Courts Bill, will fall. I referred in my statement to some of the measures that we will be addressing during the wash-up period next week. As my hon. Friend knows, though, discussions are going on through the usual channels about how to handle particular pieces of legislation; I do not want to prejudice the outcome of those discussions.