Dissolution debate

Angus Robertson, the SNP's Westminster leader, opened the opposition debate calling for a dissolution of Parliament - making a strong case as to why the House of Snouts now lacks legitimacy. Robertson pointed out that Gormless was absent from the opening of the debate and suggested it illustrated his contempt for British public opinion.

Robertson was quick to add, however, that this dissolution debate was not a vote of confidence in either Gormless or the Labour Government, but about the wishes of the British electorate especially in light of the expenses scandal.

Robertson - constantly claiming to be on the side of the British public - repeatedly made a good fist of batting down negative comments from ZaNuLiebour MPs apparently more desperate to cling onto their jobs and power than to face the British electorate.

He accused Gormless and ZaNuLiebour of "pure naked self preservation" tendencies in their sudden rush to propose electoral and constitutional reform. He ended by using Gormless's own words from earlier today to make the case for dissolution.

ZaNuLiebour's Peter Hain - Secretary of State for Wales - responded, implying that David Cameron was using the nationalists to do his dirty work. The Deputy Speaker ordered him to withdraw some of his remarks.

Virtually all of Hain's comments were extreme tribalism. He used borderline racist comments (that a BNP spokesman would have been condemned for) to accuse the SNP and PC of being "tartan Tories" and "daffodil Tories".

Hain - backed by more ZaNuLiebour politicians - made the case to deny us a General Election because it would be "another referendum on MPs expenses". And then went on to attack every other political party in the House - bar his own, obviously. He mostly continued the Buffoon line from PMQs to accuse the Tories of spending cuts; not to talk about public distrust of politicians with their snout in the trough.

The SNP got up and pointed out how much ZaNuLiebour is cutting from the budget for Scotland.

Adam Price of Plaid Cymru said Hain's speech was in itself a good example of the case for dissolving Parliament.

William Hague stood to speak in support of the motion. He said that the British people - after last week's resignations from Cabinet - have been watching a debate over whether one unelected Prime Minister should be replaced by another one... and the public feel they (we) should have a say.

Hague noted that there was no election at the end of 2007 because the unelected Prime Minister wanted time to "set out his vision" which he has still not shared. Hague also ridiculed Brown's claim that the reason not to have a General Election now is because "there would be chaos"... but without a General Election, we witnessed chaotic mass resignations from Cabinet.

Hague made strong criticism of the large number of unelected people now in Government - citing Peter Mandelson and his huge amount of power as an example of the lack of democracy in the UK.

You must look at Hansard for Hague's speech - utterly brilliant, especially when it came to a section on Mandelson's "collecting of titles". The William Hague completely stuffed by Jeremy Paxman a week ago was certainly back on top of his game.

Tony Wright (Labour) said that calling for elections "is what oppositions do" and is "the game we play" - saying that if Labour were in opposition, they would call for elections, too. He ended thoughtful disagreement with the motion - far more thoughtful than his Labour colleagues before him had managed - by calling for fixed term parliaments.

Lembit Opik (Lib Dem) said that this had been "a Government of spin".

Richard Shepherd (Conservative) spoke with authority about the current Parliament being dead, saying that this was not a party matter but the public must now have their say.

Pete Wishart (SNP) described it as a "manure Parliament".

David Heath (LibDem) - following Tony Wright - said his party had already proposed fixed term Parliaments in the lifespan of the current Parliament and it had been rejected by the Labour and Conservative front benches. Heath described the current Parliament as "catastrophically compromised" and in need of a mandate. He joined William Hague in dismissing Gordon Brown's "chaos theory" argument for refusing us a General Election and lamented the fact we are enduring yet another Labour "relaunch", presided over by seven unelected peers. He criticised Gormless as - not a reformer - but the obstacle to reform for over twelve years. He then explicitly stated that he had no confidence in the Prime Minister or this Government, that his constituents have no confidence in the PM or Government and further, the public have no confidence in Parliament. He said it is not up to Labour to deny the public our say in such a predicament.

Anne McGuire (Labour) slated Alex Salmond for attending the Westminster Parliament today and said this debate was just part of a SNP conspiracy to win independence for Scotland. She spent a large amount of time berating the effects of Margaret Thatcher's policies on Scotland. The entire point of her case to deny us a General Election was that it was essential to keep out a Conservative Government which she seemed to think would be bad for Scotland and therefore democracy must be delayed for as long as possible.

Richard Shepherd (Conservative) - who actually sounds and speaks with the passion of a true Statesman at times - said that in 1832, both Houses of Parliament feared revolution. He said that the common sense of the English people prevailed. He invoked grand Parliamentarians of the nineteenth century but said he did not fear the public; that he welcomed natural political renewal which he trusted the electorate to carry out through the ballot box. He said an election is necessary as "the people have sown their derision and scorn" at the current crop of politicians. He spoke with passion and emotion on liberty and fair trial, giving a history lesson on the "star chamber" - words used by Gormless earlier today.

Russell Brown (Labour) talked about the SNP's policies in Scotland, which seemed somewhat off-topic for this debate on dissolving the Westminster Parliament, but there you go.

Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru) said the BNP won [two seats at last week's EU elections] because Parliament today is discredited as an institution and in need of a fresh mandate. He said he believed Peter Hain did not write the speech he delivered today as it was 'drivel' that Hain, an intelligent man, would not have written. He said this debate was not a confidence motion but about the credibility of Parliament.

Chris Bryant - for the ZaNuLiebour Government - induced hysterics when referring to Mandelson as "my Lord". Sounded more like something from a Star Wars movie than from contemporary British politics. He said it would be "ludicrous for us to have an election now". And you can draw your own conclusions from that. David Heath intervened to point out that the reforms that Labour claim they must cling on to push through are reforms that they - the Labour Government - have been opposing for years. Bryant then went into Gormless apparatchik mode and recited a list of Ministry of Plenty type figures and shouted out a string of personal and political insults at anyone in any other party but his own. In doing so, he demonstrated (in our opinion) why this Government is not respected by the public.

Division: AYES 268-340 NOES

Hope you weren't expecting this to result in a General Election. We weren't because turkeys don't vote for Christmas and chickens don't vote for Sunday lunch... but we praise the SNP, PC and all 268 MPs who tried.