Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

With the permission of the House, motions 4 to 6 will be taken together. Before I call the Leader of the House to move the first motion, and speak to all three motions, I confirm that the Speaker has selected amendment (a) to motion 5 in its corrected form. I will call amendment (a) to motion 6, if amendment (a) to motion 5 is agreed to. The selected amendments will be debated together with the three motions, and the questions necessary to dispose of the motions will be put at the end of the debate. Colleagues will see that a number of Members wish to speak, so I intend to impose a five-minute limit on Back-Bench contributions.

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[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I seek some clarification because I have been looking through the amendments that have been tabled, and the right hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) has tabled what I believe is an excellent amendment, which would address this issue. Is the intention to bring that forward?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. That amendment has not been selected.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I turn to amendment (a), tabled by the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) , who has been very helpful in this process and in the discussions I have had with him. I understand that some Members remain sceptical about the approach that I have set out and whether it is the right one, and this amendment seeks to remove entirely any possibility for debate in these circumstances. I am not entirely unsympathetic to this view, because our priority is to restore confidence in the ability of the House to achieve the standards that are reasonably expected of us and to ensure that people making complaints, some of whom, as I have said, have been treated in the most appalling way, feel that the system will not add greater pain to that which they have already suffered.

However, it is my view that it would be wrong for the Government to have tabled a motion that denied the House the opportunity to consider a matter of this gravity. It should be for the House, not for Ministers, to decide that they wish to curtail the ability of Members to conduct debate. The House can set its procedures as it wishes, but it would not be constitutionally right for the Executive to seek to limit free speech in this House.

I believe that this curtailment can be avoided and have set out how we can meet our constitutional requirements, while reassuring those wishing to access the ICGS who have not yet done so that they will have their confidential information preserved and protected. But if the House agrees to this amendment, it will willingly and knowingly have taken this approach, and in those circumstances, motion 6 will not be moved.

While the amendments tabled today differ in terms of the means, I think we are all entirely united in the ends, signalling our collective determination to make a break with the past. Above all, this is a matter for the House, which this House must get right to show that we are genuinely committed to change.

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[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Before I call the shadow Leader of the House, I should tell hon. Members that although I said that I thought the time limit would be five minutes, it will probably be four minutes.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. After the next speaker, I shall introduce a time limit of three minutes in order to try to get as many people in as possible.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I am introducing a time limit of two minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

The House proceeded to a Division.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I ask all hon. Members other than Front Benchers and Tellers to leave the Chamber by the doors behind me. Members should join the queue to vote in Westminster Hall. To vote, Members should enter the Lobby and swipe their pass on one of the pass readers.