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

As I follow my right hon. Friend's splendid speech, I am tempted to remember the American politician who talked of an opponent being like ““rotten mackerel by moonlight”” that ““stinks””. This stinks. The motion is a most appalling illustration, on the one hand, of the prodigality of the Prime Minister and, on the other, of the contempt in which the Government hold this House of Commons. Here we are in the dying days of a decaying Parliament, and what should we be doing to restore the reputation of this honourable House? We should be devoting such time as we have between now and going to the polls to discussing the great issues of the day. Can this motion, by any stretch of the imagination, be construed as one of the great issues of the day? It is utterly irrelevant to our constituents' interests and, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) has just illustrated, it proposes the expenditure of £80 million. There is not a Member of the House who could not get inestimable benefits for his or her constituents for a 10th of that. I do not want to take long, because I want to direct my remarks entirely to the motion before us. The other thing is this. The motion not only illustrates the prodigality of the Prime Minister—with his busted reputation for financial acumen, which went down the drain a very long time ago—but shows that the Government have no place in their affections or regard for Parliament. They are thrashing around like a dying tyrant, seeking to use their majority to take the public eye off the things that really matter and, perhaps, to save their skins in what they think might become a deal in the future—we remember the Lib-Lab pact, Mr. Deputy Speaker—with those who might come to their aid and succour. If anything ought to make the people of this country realise that we are going through a shoddy, shabby exercise this afternoon, it is this debate. I very much hope that all my right hon. and hon. Friends will go into the Lobby, as I shall, to try to deny this useless expenditure—this prodigal waste of money—that would be a disgrace to the Government, if we allow them to get away with it.