Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It would indeed. This may be a particularly live issue for Members representing Scottish constituencies, as it is not beyond the bounds of reason for someone to suggest that, because there are other elected Members doing casework in those constituencies, there might be a discrepancy. This is an unwise signal to send, so I ask the Lord Chancellor to look at it. Another issue implicit in new clause 73 is the start date of salary. I would like to raise an issue of concern, on which the House should take a view in the very near future. Owing to the number of right hon. and hon. Members who have declared that they are standing down at the next election, we shall have an unprecedented turnover of Members and many new ones will enter the House. That will require a significant degree of induction in order to bring them up to speed. I have always felt that our system is too precipitate—immediately following a general election, the pantechnicon arrives at No. 10 Downing street and everything changes; we start with a new Government and a new Parliament at the earliest opportunity. A strong argument can be made for a period of reflection to allow preparations to be made, as is normal in almost every other legislature and almost every other governmental arrangement. A period of reflection is important as new roles and responsibilities are established and new posts are taken up. However, there is an implicit bar to that happening under proposed new section 4(6), which states:""No payment of salary is to be made to a member before the member has made and subscribed the oath"." I am not arguing that Members should not subscribe the oath or undertake equivalent procedures in order to take their place in the House, or that Members should be paid if they are not prepared to be full Members of the House. I am simply saying that if the intention is for Parliament to assemble and for oaths to be sworn at the earliest opportunity in order to prevent any interruption to payment of the salaries of existing Members or new ones, it will work against the interests of good governance. I believe that the House should take a view on that at some stage.