Martin Salter's Westminster Diary, July 16, 2009

Martin Salter MP • Published 16 Jul 2009 12:00 0 Comments

THE summer recess can't come quickly enough for me because the pace of the work here in Westminster shows no sign of abating.

In the past few weeks I have been trying to juggle my work as a member of the Marine Bill Committee with sittings of the Home Affairs Committee and meetings of the new Select Committee on Parliamentary Reform.

All of this has been on top of an intensive campaign for the election of the new Speaker, and our successful campaign to achieve settlement rights for the Gurkhas.

By way of a distraction, I also got dragged into the row over the decision of the House of Commons authorities to prevent Scouts from lobbying their MPs in Westminster Hall on the spurious grounds that 'they were not old enough to vote'.

Along with Tory Julian Brazier, and Labour's Stephen Pound, I sent a joint letter to the Speaker, John Bercow, asking him to intervene and overturn the decision.

Once again the Commons was in danger of demonstrating what a deeply conservative and out of touch institution it is capable of being. On the one hand we have an excellent Parliamentary Education Unit which actively encourages the engagement of schools and young people.

However yet another arm of this arcane bureaucracy appears to be doing all it can to slam the door in the face of young people from the Scouting movement who simply want to press their case with their MPs.

Luckily, our new reforming Speaker joined us in recognising the importance of all constituents - irrespective of their age - having the opportunity to lobby their MP, and ordered the authorities to allow them access.

The House is also gripped by the phonetapping scandal involved the alleged actions of the News of the World under the editorship of David Cameron's press secretary, Andy Coulson.

Although Cameron said he is 'relaxed' about the revelations, many of us in Parliament and the country who feel systematic phone hacking of politicians, celebrities, and private individuals is nothing to be relaxed about.

Several Commons committees have indicated they will be investigating this matter, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Information Commissioner. There is still a long way for this murky story to run, however much the Tories may wish it to go away.

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This blog appeared in Reading Chronicle 16 Jul 09

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