Mark Oaten

Following the appointment of Peter Mandleson to the House of Lords as Minister of Business & Enterprise Mark Oaten has called on Government to ensure that all lead Ministers are held to account by elected MPs.

Peter Mandleson will only operate in the House of Lords with an Under-Secretary of State representing the Business Department in the House of Commons. This will mean that the fully elected House of Commons will not have an opportunity to hold the Minister directly to account.

Mark has therefore tabled EDM 2178 entitled ‘Government Ministers in the House of Lords’ calling upon Government to bring forward proposals to ensure that all Government Ministers be required to attend departmental questions and make statements to the elected House.

Mark Oaten commented:

“This isn’t about one person or another but about the system. We can’t have a Minister, who heads up a Government Department, not coming into the Commons to be questioned by MPs, it just isn’t democratic.

“Basically this gives lead Ministers a chance to avoid tough questions from the publics elected representatives. That can’t be right and the Government need to have a look at these archaic rules Parliament has to follow so we can address this issue.

- The EDM in full reads:

That this House notes the appointment of a new Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to the House of Lords; further notes that the lead Minister for this Department will therefore not appear in the House of Commons; and calls on the Government to bring forward proposals to ensure that all Government Ministers who are members of the House of Lords be required to attend departmental Questions and make Ministerial Statements in the House of Commons so that the elected House can hold them to account.

Ministers Must be Held to Account by Elected MPs