Robert Smith's Column

Sir Robert Smith MP

On Monday the House of Commons took a small step in removing some of the power that the Government has to control how the place operates. Both under Mrs Thatcher and then Tony Blair the government of the day has had such a large majority that it was able to change the rules to reduce the power of the Commons to hold them to account.

When Tony Blair came to power he set up a committee to "modernise" the way the place operates. However he ensured that the Committee was chaired by a Government Minister. Under the label of modernisation the amount of scrutiny that new laws received was effectively reduced.

With such a large majority the Government could force through timetables for debates that ensured they got an easy time. In the short run the Government get an easy life and it was left to the House of Lords to try and pick up the pieces. As was said on Monday in the long run the Government suffers as it looses touch and ducks any calls for accountability.

Very late in the day the current Prime Minister wanted to be seen to be doing something about the Government being out of touch and set up a committee to look at reforms that could improve the work of the Commons. Chaired by Tony Wright it became known as the Wright Committee.

The terms of reference set by the Prime Minister restricted the scope of the committee, but never the less it did achieve a cross party agreement for reforms that would give the Commons more control over the Government.

The Government sat on the recommendations and only this Monday allowed some of them to be considered. On Monday we did manage to push them to allow the Commons to consider a wider proposal that would try and get control of the time we debate away from Ministers and back in the hands of MPs. On Thursday week we will vote on this procedure.

It is important that we press this proposal home in the dying days of a weak Government before the election is called and the moment is lost. As I said this is a small step, but it is an important one if we are to try and ensure Government stay in touch with the country. A change of rules alone will not deliver everything. It is important that culture of the place ensures the rules are used to the full benefit of greater scrutiny.

The state of the economy has again been back on the agenda as competing economists used the letter's page of the newspapers to argue about how best the country should respond the continuing problem. Both sets recognise that the country now has a major debt burden that needs to be addressed. What they disagreed on was how quickly that challenge should be addressed.

There is no doubt that the level of Government borrowing is unsustainable and that the markets need to see a clear a credible strategy for tackling that crisis. However the recent rise in unemployment locally is a warning about just how fragile the economy is at the moment and the importance of ensuring that the stimulus provided by public investment is not withdrawn too quickly. It is sad that so much of the stimulus was untargeted such as the VAT cut. So much more could have been achieved by direct investment in issues like ensuring greater energy efficiency.

Next Tuesday sees the screening of a fascinating documentary on the land issue in Zimbabwe called "Mugabe and the White African". It will be on at Cineworld Union Square and follows a legal battle by a farmer using a new court established by the Southern African Development Community to challenge the land grab. I found the film very moving especially as the family involved is my nephew's in-laws and it features my nephew Ben Freeth.

Sir Robert Smith MP

26th February 2010