cheryl gillan and margaret hodge.tting a taste for power in many areas of parliamentary life. on tuesday the government set out proposals to exert control of the committees that scrutinise legislation in detail. the commons leader, andrea leadsom, defended the move, saying that with dup support, the government had a working majority. the government of the day must have a realistic opportunity to make progress with its business through the house. the motion that the house is being asked to agree today guarantees that the party with a working majority is able to do exactly that. i will give way to the honourable gentleman. the leader of the house keeps making reference to having a working majority. for the purposes of this parliament, the government only has a working majority for matters of confidence and supply. matters of confidence and supply, madam deputy speaker, are not committed to the public bill committees. they are dealt with on the floor of the house. in committees, they should not have, because they do not

conservative mps speaking in today's debate agreed with cheryl gillan that this was necessary.ttempts to give this process a prejudicial descriptor, the hard and soft brexit that are a product of polarised viewpoints. i prefer a practical approach, and with perhaps a few modifications, this bill does what it says on the tin. it provides a method to facilitate a very complex and legal and constitutional extrication that has resulted from a democratic vote to leave the european union. i will therefore be supporting the government in the lobbies tonight, and hope many of my colleagues on the other side of the house, as well as my friends on this side of the house, will do the same. the government insists this is a mainly technical exercise, but that's not how labour see it. they say it is a paragraph as ministers will be using so—called henry viii clauses, meaning that they commit some changes without full parliamentary scrutiny, without endless debates and lots of votes. they simply do not think there will be time to do it any other way. labour say it is a paragraph, jeremy corby

this is what cheryl gillan had to say.ard brexit and soft brexit which are the polarised viewpoints. i prefer a practical view. this bill does what it says on the tin. it provides a method to facilitate a very complex and legal constitutional extrication that has resulted from a democratic vote to leave the european union. i will therefore be supporting the government in the lobbies tonight and hope many of my colleagues on the other side of the house as well as on this side of the house will do the same. ministers insisted that this was a technical process, that they have been given these powers, they have been given these powers, they need this bill, because it all has to be transferred over. but that is not how others see it. jeremy corbyn is ordering his labour mps to oppose the bill. they are saying this amounts to a power grab, that ministers will have to change actual policies, change laws without any parliamentary scrutiny. and most labour mps will be following the orders of their leader like angela smith. mr speak

the conservative mp cheryl gillan says that this bill is about providing stability and certainty forcertainly doesn't make any sense to me, particularly after the applause house passed article 50 legislation. this bill is a vehicle for the government in this house to deal with a unique and extraordinary situation and ensure a functioning statute of us leaving the eu. alas, i believe, you're trying to rerun the referendum automate chaos in a process , the referendum automate chaos in a process, voting against it should not be an auction for any member tonight. ministers have indicated they will be flexible whenever possible but having lived through the maastricht debates, there is little to be gained and much to be lost by prolonging any debate unnecessarily. eight days seems to me and besom or length of time. our businesses and organisations will not thrive with ongoing uncertainty and this bill increases the progress being made, provides stability and certainty needed to have a smooth transition and continuity of business post brexit. a flavour of the debate there. vicky young is at