Business without Debate

Access To Telecommunications Networks Bill

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object.

Objection taken. No date named for Second Reading. Exemption from Value Added Tax (Public Electric Vehicle Charging Points) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Support for Infants and Parents etc (Information) Bill [Lords] Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 4 July. Domestic Building Works (Consumer Protection) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 4 July. Meat (Information About Method of Killing) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Exemption from Value Added Tax (Listed Places Of Worship) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Exemption from Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Caravan Site Licensing (Exemptions of Motor Homes) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Arm’s-length Bodies (Review) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Public Health (Control Of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (Amendment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Domestic Energy (Value Added Tax) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. BBC Licence Fee Non-payment (Decriminalisation for Over-75s) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Payments Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Anonymity of Suspects Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Children’s Clothing (Value Added Tax) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Highways Act 1980 (Amendment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. British Broadcasting Corporation (Privatisation) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Vaccine Damage Payments Act (Review) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Arm’s-length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Bailiffs (Warrants of Possession) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. National Health Service Co-funding and Co-payment Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Interpersonal Abuse and Violence Against Men and Boys (Strategy) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Pets (Microchips) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Terminal Illness (Relief of Pain) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. Immigration and Visas Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June. British Indian Ocean Territory (Sovereignty and Constitutional Arrangements) Bill Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Object. Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 20 June.

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Mr Speaker said earlier today that a Minister would come to the House on Monday to discuss the middle east. Given the events overnight, which have continued to deteriorate during the course of the day, have you had any indication that a Minister will come to the House in the few minutes left before we rise to discuss the middle east, in particular Israel and Iran, given UK equities in the area and more generally?

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for giving notice of his point of order, but as Mr Speaker told the House this morning, the Foreign Secretary has indicated that he will come to the House to make a statement on Monday.

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You may be aware that the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) and I were called for interview by the Metropolitan police following our participation in a demonstration in January calling for peace and justice for the Palestinian people and an end to the genocide in Gaza. It was alleged that we failed to follow police restrictions on the protest. That is untrue, and at all times we followed police instructions. We can now report that the police have dropped the case against us and there will be no charges. The reason for this point of order is that in the correspondence to our solicitor Martin Howe, the Metropolitan police informed us that our case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service because, as MPs, we were to be held to have “a greater culpability”. This is an unacceptable practice that flies in the face of the principle that we are all equal before the law. I wish to place on record my concern about that behaviour by the Metropolitan police.

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for giving notice of his point of order. It is not a matter for the Chair, but he has put his point on the record. May I suggest that he takes the matter up with the Clerks, who will be able to advise him on how to pursue the matter further?

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish to place on record my thanks to our solicitor Martin Howe and many others who worked very hard on this case. The implications are obviously very serious. If there are elements in the police and possibly in the Crown Prosecution Service who want Members of Parliament to be held to a different standard of account than the general public, that removes us from the normality of law in this country. I think that would be a very bad step indeed. I will take your advice, of course, and take this up with the Clerks, because our being held to a different standard would be a very bad thing. We all have to have the right to take part in public protest about human rights abuse, about war, about peace and about anything else. That is what democracy is about. I saw this whole effort as a means of trying to silence the democratic rights of everybody in our society by picking on us two as Members of Parliament. I am grateful for the decision that has been made today, but like my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), I do not intend to let it rest there.

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for giving notice of his point of order. As he knows, it is not a matter for the Chair, but he has put his point on the record.

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. It might be useful if a Member of Parliament who has not often taken part in demos in central London intervenes at this point to show that opinion in this House of Commons is absolutely united. In various Parliaments—indeed, in most Parliaments in Europe—MPs have immunity from prosecution. We have never had that system here, and we have always proclaimed what is very much the British way: that Members of Parliament are no different from any other member of the public. If they do wrong, they will be held to account, but they should not be subject to some greater test of culpability just because they are Members of Parliament. As somebody who is not in the same party as the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and often has rather different views from his, I wanted to rise to show that what he has just said has universal support in this House.

I thank the right hon. Member for his point of order. While it is not a matter for the Chair, he has put his point on the record and he has been heard by the House.

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Would it be possible for you to explain why that is not a matter for the Chair? Surely if MPs are going to be deemed by the Metropolitan police to have greater culpability than other citizens, that must be a matter for the Chair and for Mr Speaker. Why should it be delegated to the Clerks?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. However, it is not a matter for the Chair. If it is a matter of privilege, he should raise the matter privately with Mr Speaker.