Member News
By Tony Grew - 29th June 2010
David Anderson and Alison Seabeck have been elected as the Labour MPs on the backbench business select committee.
The ballot to elect members took place this morning.
Labour's Katy Clark did not attract enought support to be elected.
Four Tory MPs and one Lib Dem became members of the committee without appearing on the ballot due to the way in which the committee is comprised.
The full membership has now been announced as follows:
Natascha Engel, Chair (Lab, North East Derbyshire)
David Anderson (Lab, Blaydon)
Peter Bone (Con, Wellingborough)
Philip Davies (Con, Shipley)
Jane Ellison (Con, Battersea)
John Hemming (Lib Dem, Yardley)
Philip Hollobone (Con, Kettering)
Alison Seabeck (Lab, Plymouth Moor View)
Under the rules of the election at least two women must secure a seat on the committee and the members gain their place through the Single Transferable Vote system.
Mr Speaker ruled there would four places for Tories, two for Labour and one for the Lib Dems, a decision that angered the smaller parties.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said:
"It does not help the reputation of Parliament to exclude democratically elected MPs from even putting their name forward - it is a democratic disgrace."
Labour MP John Robertson complained that the coalition holds five of the eight places on the committee.
The committee will be re-elected anually.
It will have the power to decide what will be debated in the Commons chamber or in Westminster Hall on days set aside for non-government business.
Last week Engel was elected as the chair of the backbench business committee, beating former deputy Commons speaker and Conservative MP Sir Alan Haselhurst.
Engel gained the support of 202 MPs compared to Sir Alan's 173, there was one invalid ballot paper submitted.
Commons leader Sir George Young said the committee gave backbenchers the opportunity to "seize back" some of the powers that have been taken away by the government.
"We want to restore to backbench members greater control over the business of the House than they have had for not only a generation," he said.
"The new committee will give back benchers the power and time to schedule debates on issues that matter to them and to their constituents, and allow the House to become more responsive to the world outside."
The move follows the recommendations of the House of Commons reform committee chaired in the last Parliament by the former MP Tony Wright – of which Engel was herself a member.
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