CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

POINT OF ORDER – PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS - 08 May 2001

POINT OF ORDER – PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS - 08 May 2001

Dr Julian Lewis: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I have tried to give notice of this point of order, even though I did so a relatively short time ago. During this Parliament, a number of complaints have been referred by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to the Standards and Privileges Committee. Are you concerned that those complaints do not seem to have been dealt with with the firmness that was applied to similar complaints made during the previous Parliament? Most recently, such a complaint has led to the censuring of a former Minister [Geoffrey Robinson], but there is no proposal to inflict any punishment for three months, which ensures that the general election will be left way behind. Are you satisfied that the Committee is doing its work properly, bearing in mind the importance of ensuring that a Labour-dominated Committee in seen to be properly impartial when Labour Members appear before it?