Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (Money) (No. 3)

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I should have liked to reply ““five”” to that question, but that would not be appropriate, as you have noted. I was talking about expenditure, about the lack of estimates and about the distraction from substantial matters that this matter entails. For those reasons, I oppose the money resolution. I believe that in the dying days of this dying Parliament we should show some resolution along the lines that I have described. This House itself is dying. Parliament's purpose is to hold Governments to account on the expenditure of money. That is essential, as are the processes by which we look at that expenditure and the balance of the arguments that are put, yet today we have only 45 minutes for debate—and on most money resolutions we do not even get that. So I urge the House to reject with a cheer the nonsense that is this motion and this Bill. The sooner that we tell the Government that there is no business worth considering, the better. The people must determine the fate of every one of us here. We must give up absurd gestures such as this referendum proposal, which has been dreamed up and put on the Order Paper inside a week. The Government tell us that it is a serious constitutional measure that must be debated, even though there is no possibility of an outcome.