Business of the House

John Bercow Excerpts

Thursday 22nd March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

The point of order will come after the business question. The hon. Gentleman should hold his horses. I am sure that he will.

[Sir George Young]

I hear what my hon. Friend says. We are, of course, having a debate on the Budget. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor made clear his views on tax evasion and what he called “aggressive tax avoidance”. I am sure that it would be in order to talk about the tax loopholes that are being closed by the Government during the Budget debate, as long as one remains within order.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

As usual, there is a lot of interest. I am keen to accommodate that interest, but we do now require extreme brevity—not preamble, but short, single-sentence questions, please.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

As the person who perpetrated the terrible atrocities in Toulouse claims to be a former al-Qaeda bomber who escaped with 500 others from Kandahar prison with the collusion of Karzai and his army and jailers, may we now debate why we tell our brave soldiers to dismantle bombs? The only reason is so that the perpetrators can be identified and jailed. As that is now a futile occupation, because the perpetrators escape almost at will, should we not debate the issue now and allow our soldiers to destroy bombs at distance?

[Mr Speaker]

I think that sentence contained a lot of commas and semi-colons, but I do not recommend that it be imitated by other colleagues.

[Sir George Young]

I say to the hon. Gentleman, who has pursued this issue with dogged ferocity, that there will be questions to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on Monday, which might provide him with an opportunity to pursue it with Ministers who have the answers at their fingertips.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I agree entirely with what my hon. Friend says on the importance of regional media. We have just had Department for Culture, Media and Sport questions, when there might have been an opportunity to raise that. We have put the BBC’s funding on a more stable basis for the foreseeable future, and I will ensure that the BBC hears what my hon. Friend says and see whether appropriate resources are being allocated to the regional media that cover his constituency.

[Mr Speaker]

Just before we move to the next business, there is one matter with which I should like to deal. In the course of business questions, the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry) prefaced his question by indicating that he had notified the right hon. Member to whom he was about to refer in advance of coming to the Chamber. I simply want to say this to the hon. Gentleman and the House: advance notification to a Member of an intention to refer to that Member is, of itself, not sufficient; much depends on what is then said. I say for the benefit of the hon. Gentleman and the House that where an accusation or implication of possible improper conduct is made, that must be done either by a reference to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards or upon a substantive motion. It should not be done in the course of a question. That was wrong, and a discourtesy—unintentional, I am sure—to the House. Therefore, I invite the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen to apologise to the House for that discourtesy. He should now rise from his seat and apologise for that discourtesy, which I accept and am sure was unintentional.

[Jake Berry]

Mr Speaker, I apologise for an unintentional discourtesy to the House.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his apology. I think that deals with the matter.