Children and Adoption Bill [Lords]

If the hon. Gentleman had been here earlier in the debate, he would have heard several hon. Members trot out all the figures for how many hon. Members on both sides of the House have signed that early-day motion, which has a direct cut-across to the wording in new clause 4, which is not ridiculous. Some 85 per cent. of his parliamentary colleagues thought that it was not ridiculous to sign the early-day motion and fob off their constituents by telling them that they had done so, but they are apparently not going to put their money where their mouths are and vote for the new clause. I will not go over all the Minister’s responses, but what worries me—[Interruption.] I hope that the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the former Chief Whip, will stop heckling for a change, for the first time in her life. She has not been here for the whole debate. She comes here purely to heckle and disrupt, not to add anything constructive to a very important matter that some of us have spent the past year trying to debate, with no help from her. The Minister’s response to new clause 12 was typical. [Interruption.] She is still doing it. If she wants to interrupt, let her do it constructively from the Dispatch Box. If not, perhaps she could listen—she may learn. The Minister’s response to new clause 12 was to say that by amending the checklist—[Interruption.]