Harman signals support for moves to give backbenchers more power

Harriet Harman said last night that she would personally support moves to give backbench MPs more control over when and for how long bills are debated in the House of Commons. She made the comment during a debate that saw some minor reforms agreed unanimously by MPs, while the more controversial proposals were shelved until next Thursday, when they will be subject to a vote. MPs were debating a report from a committee chaired by Labour MP Tony Wright on reforming the House of Commons. Changes in the Wright report that did win support last night included: • Wider powers for MPs to initiate Commons debates. • The possible reintroduction of September sittings to break up the long summer recess. • A greater role for the public to petition parliament and a trial of debates on certain petitions in Westminster Hall during the next parliamentary session. The most controversial proposal in the Wright report was for the creation of a house business committee to decide how much time should be allocated to bills and debates. This would take some power away from the government, which, under the current system, gets to decide how time is allocated in the Commons chamber. The government has tabled a motion for debate next Thursday saying that a new committee should be set up to deal with backbench business. But Wright and more than 120 other MPs have tabled an amendment saying that a new business committee should take control of the timing of all debates and votes in the Commons. MPs will have a free vote next Thursday. Harman told the Commons last night that she would vote for the Wright amendment, although she said it was not one of the "big things" the government was backing. Other proposals that will be put to a vote next week include plans for the members and chairs of Commons select committees to be elected. Under the current system, they are chosen by the party whips. Harman, the leader of the Commons and Labour's deputy leader, said in the debate last night that the measures proposed by the cross-party committee on reform of the house would help restore a reputation "battered" by the expenses scandal. Hilary Armstrong, a former Labour chief whip, warned the changes could mark the "slippery slope to separation of powers" with the executive removed from the Commons. But Harman said she did not share those fears. Reform was needed "to give more power to backbenchers" and "to give the house more power over the government". Sir George Young, the shadow leader of the Commons, questioned the "unorthodox" approach adopted by the government, which allowed a single MP to block any of the proposals and force further debate next week. "I agree ... the report represents a chance for the house to change and I think it is a chance we should seize," he said. The recommendations had the "broad support" of the Conservative frontbench, he said. "As a possible executive in waiting, we have had to take a view on the proposal that the executive should relinquish some of the powers it has – and we believe that it should." Wright, the Labour chairman of the reform committee, said parliament had been "battered by the most ferocious and damaging storm in its history" and there was "a massive enterprise of restoration and reconstruction to be undertaken". He told MPs: "Let nobody think that once we've attended to the expenses issue or had a general election, all will be well." The "fundamental principle" of the report was that a government should have the means to implement a programme on which it has been elected – but effective scrutiny was essential, he added. For the Liberal Democrats, David Heath backed the reforms as "necessary" but said they were only a "small step in the right direction". He said there ought to be a "tide of reform coming in" after having reached what was perhaps the "high water of executive power".