John Redwood

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Writing on his online blog, www.johnredwoodsdiary.com, John Redwood spoke of the need for more Parliamentary accountability and has criticised the new Government’s record in Parliament.

It is interesting that after 10 years of the Blair regime undermining and sidelining Parliament, we are told the new Cabinet wants a stronger Parliament capable of holding the Executive to better account. Three cheers for that.

This is a case where actions will speak far louder than words. Offering a vote on a new war amounts to very little, as we had a vote on the Iraq war, and Parliament was summonsed and gave approval for the Falklands War.

The problem for these Ministers is their record. As theyworkforyou.com shows, the senior Ministers have not been showing great support for more Parliamentary accountability so far.

Gordon Brown spoke only 12 times in the Commons over the last twelve months and voted in only 19% of the Divisions. As a Minister he was unable to ask questions but did answer some. As the monitoring site says, he has not voted on a more transparent Parliament and voted moderately against investigating the Iraq war.

Alistair Darling never voted on a transparent Parliament and voted strongly against investigating the Iraq war. He voted in 58% of the divisions and spoke in 16 debates.

David Miliband never voted on a transparent Parliament and voted strongly against investigating the Iraq war. He voted in 63% of the divisions and spoke in 19 debates.

All three voted less often and spoke less often than the average MP.

As Ministers they can bring more of their issues to Parliament and offer to speak more often on matters affecting their own department, but they chose not to. If the Brown government is to show it is very different from the Blair government, these Ministers must offer more Parliamentary time to discuss matters of importance, and must attend themselves more often to both vote and speak.