On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 01:22:49PM +0100, Michael Bimmler wrote: > On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Mark Goodge <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > 2. I'm not all that interested in defence matters - what I want to know > > about is how well my MP is performing as a constituency MP, and what he says > > in debates rather than merely giving statements on behalf of his department. > > > > This won't really happen. We'll never see David Cameron questioning > his Minister of Housing about housing provisions in Witney during oral > questions or during an Adjournment debate or a junior Foreign Office > minister asking his ministerial colleague in BIS about Further > Education in his home constituency. Government ministers speak either > in debates on behalf of the government, formally setting out > government position, or when they make a statement and take questions > on it. They do no longer ask questions or raise matters for > Adjournment debates or otherwise speak "independently" in debates - > that's the meaning of the strict front-bench / back-bench division in > Parliament.
Out of interest, what causes this restriction? Is it a legal one, is it a Parliamentary procedural one, or is it just a convention that most parties in Government follow? Is there anything formal written down about it? Francis _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
