Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

As I think my hon. Friend has demonstrated, an ingenious Member of Parliament is able to find numerous ways in which to place the points about which he is concerned on the record.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) is a notable practitioner of what I call the shoehorning technique, which is to shoehorn the matter of concern to oneself into any question whether it naturally fits or not.

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

My hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) is absolutely right that EVEL has been a bureaucratic, cumbersome and misunderstood nightmare, which has divided this House on the basis of nationality and geography. Given that the Government have a majority in both England and the rest of the United Kingdom, what difference has this useless apparatus made to any legislative outcome that we have considered in the past year?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Lidington]

That sounds to me like a further interesting submission to the Government’s consultation.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Laurence Robertson. Not here.