Hoon rejects MPs' committee fears

Gwyneth Dunwoody still wants to chair the transport committee

Geoff Hoon has rejected fears that a delay in choosing MPs to sit on key Commons committees could lead to them being packed with placemen.

He said the delay was because selecting committee members was complicated.

After the 2001 election a backbench rebellion forced ministers to back down when they wanted to replace the chairmen of two key committees.

Labour's Andrew Mackinlay warned of another rebellion. The committees scrutinise government departments.

Under threat?

The membership of each committee is proportionate to the size of each political party's number of Commons' seats.

Mr Mackinlay, who has sat on the foreign affairs committee since 1997, told BBC News that he had been called in by Labour Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong last year to be told-off about his voting record.

That might mean his committee seat was now under threat, he said.

And Ian Gibson, chairman of the science and technology committee from 2001 until this year's poll, said he thought it possible his criticism of policy in areas such as tuition fees might mean he found himself without the job in this Parliament.

"It would be a shame. We do need to have people who act in the spirit of scrutiny and don't just rubber-stamp government decisions."

Good system?

Former whip Graham Allen meanwhile argued it was time to give the selection of committee members and chairmen to MPs.

"If government constantly interferes in who is going to scrutinise it and who is going to hold it to account, then clearly you are not going to get the degree of accountability and scrutiny that many of us feel Parliament is there to deliver in the British constitution," said Mr Allen.

Commons leader Mr Hoon defended the committee system saying it worked "very well".

"It is important that it reflects Parliament, both in terms of the new reduced majority - so that the other political parties now have more positions - and that the other parties have the opportunity to make their nominations," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

"We haven't even got to that stage yet, so anticipating who might or might not be in a position to be chairmen is really a long way down the track."

Dunwoody fights on

He added that it was "important" the right people got the right jobs.

"Some of those right people might well be ex-ministers. Those may be the very best people to do the job because of their knowledge of a particular department."

In 2001 a rebellion saw off a government bid to oust Gwyneth Dunwoody from the transport committee and Donald Anderson from foreign affairs.

Mr Anderson stepped down from Parliament at last month's election but Ms Dunwoody still wants to chair transport.