Speeches by Powell.

“And by the way, if the Committee wants to recommend to the Government that they change the code, that is obviously entirely a matter for the Committee.”

“Yes, absolutely. And now, he has developed a new process, for future SDRs, whereby they will be published in advance. I think big documents should be published to the House first, but not in such a way that colleagues have not got time to read them, digest them and come up with questions.”

“The tuition fees statement was made to the House first.”

“As I said, I do not know why, but the tradition with the SDR is that, like the Budget, it is actually published when the Minister sits down. Obviously, the Secretary of State felt that was not adequate for the House and that is why he authorised it to be distributed in advance.”

“No, I said that it was published to give colleagues time to read it. It is a big document and, as I say, you get the opposite if you have the Secretary of State on their feet and a document has just been passed around at that moment. I have been in the Chamber many times over the years when that has happened. Obviously…”

“International treaties are routinely signed and delivered jointly elsewhere, and then a Minister comes straight to the House.”

“Yes, for colleagues to read it. Absolutely.”

“To the House?”

“It was very important. As you know, that was jointly signed by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister. The timing of that was completely out of our control and was subject to the availability and timing of the US President.”

“Yet again, I gently say that we are throwing up binary straw men. As I hope I have tried to explain over the last hour and a half, that is not how things actually work or what they are subject to. The Ministerial Code and the conduct of Ministers is a matter for the Prime Minister. However, the expectation of this Hous…”

“It was published to the House first, so we are now having a different conversation.”

“I think she had not understood it to be as significant as it was. As I say, there are times that we do not always get this right.”

“That document was published to the House first.”

“Ministers do not have their own interpretation. It is a collective agreement.”

“The response to the sentencing review was given to the House first. I accept that there was an issue in respect of the prisoner recall. My understanding—I obviously asked about it myself—was that that was not supposed to be said in that press conference in that way, because there were later things. On that occasion, we…”

“I think you have to use your words carefully, because convention is not quite the same thing. A convention would be the custom and practice that for many, many years, announcements would go to the media, with statements made to the House later in the day, or when the House is sitting—big announcements are made in reces…”

“No, because urgent questions are not in my gift. It is not for me to influence, or to suggest to the Speaker that he is under pressure to not grant an urgent question—because, I can tell you now, if I even suggested that, he would grant many more.”

“I will come on to your question. I think that is an important context for this Committee to appreciate. This is not a trajectory going downwards; it is one going significantly upwards and one that we take incredibly seriously. As I say, a range of things are taken into account. The most important Government announcemen…”

“Which is why I protected time for the Opposition day.”

“But a statement, you cannot. If there are urgent questions, they go first; and business questions can last for as long as it lasts. If two urgent questions were granted, that could have been two hours, and business questions is often an hour and a half, so that is three and a half hours. Then you would have the health …”