Backbench Business Committee
Representations: Backbench Debates
Tuesday 5 December 2023
Ordered by the House of Commons to be published on 5 December 2023.
Members present: Ian Mearns (Chair); Bob Blackman; Patricia Gibson; Nigel Mills; Kate Osborne.
Questions 1-6
Representations made
I: Nick Fletcher
Nick Fletcher made representations.
Chair: Good afternoon and welcome to the Backbench Business Committee. Last week it was feast; this week it is not famine, but Nick Fletcher. Good afternoon, Nick.
Nick Fletcher: Good afternoon.
Q1 Chair: The title that you suggested in your application was “Christmas, the birth of Christ, and the impact on Christianity”. Over to you, Nick: tell us why you want a debate, please.
Nick Fletcher: Thank you for having me before you today. I had a debate at Easter regarding Christianity, and it was extremely well received. It was shared by the Christian Institute on social media and was viewed over 200,000 times. I managed to get pretty much no negative comments whatever. There were thousands of comments, and I got cards and letters from around the world, which was really pleasing to see.
The reason I would like to have the debate at Christmas is that Christmas and Easter are the two big dates in the Christian calendar. We have many days to celebrate lots of different things—only recently we had the International Men’s Day debate, which you kindly granted me and which also went down well—but we are never actually sitting on Christmas day, so I think this would be a really good chance for that debate. We have an extremely active Christians in Parliament APPG, which I know is hugely supportive.
Christmas can be a very difficult time for an awful lot of people. There can be a lot of lonely people at Christmas, and sometimes people who are lonely throughout the year can feel even more lonely around Christmas. It would be good to let the country know and let parliamentarians know that there is usually a church close by. It is a wonderful time to go, and it is a wonderful thing to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Chair: Thank you very much indeed. Questions, colleagues?
Q2 Bob Blackman: The answering Department would presumably be the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as it has the faith brief. Is that correct?
Nick Fletcher: I believe so, yes. I think that was who answered last time.
Q3 Bob Blackman: You have put your application in for either 18 or 19 December.
Nick Fletcher: Yes. It would be ideal to have it on the last day, really.
Q4 Bob Blackman: Would you be happy with Tuesday 19th in the morning?
Nick Fletcher: Yes, I am more than happy with that.
Chair: We don’t know yet if we are going to get any time at all in the Chamber that week.
Bob Blackman: This would be in Westminster Hall.
Q5 Chair: Yes, we could definitely guarantee you a debate in Westminster Hall on that day, Nick. The only thing is that you have nine supporters on your application, which makes 10 including you, but I am afraid to say that all but two are Conservatives. We prefer to see much more cross-party support for applications. Would it be possible to get some more people from Opposition parties to support your application?
Nick Fletcher: I will try my very best. I will be having a meeting with the APPG in the morning, so I will see if I can drum up some extra names and forward them on. Robin Walker said today that he would support it, but obviously he is a Conservative Member too.
Q6 Chair: We were also wondering about the title. It has to go on the Order Paper, so we were thinking about trying to edit it down to “Christmas and Christianity”.
Nick Fletcher: Yes, I am fine with that. That is acceptable to me.
Chair: Thank you very much indeed. Any further questions, colleagues?
Patricia Gibson: I don’t know whether you have attempted to get him, but I was surprised not to see Jim Shannon’s name down as a supporter.
Chair: It is down: he was one of the additional names.
Nick Fletcher: Jim Shannon is down, and so is Ruth Jones.
Chair: Yes, Ruth Jones is the one Labour Member. Apart from the five who are on the printed sheet, we have Jim Shannon, Ruth Jones, Fiona Bruce and Caroline Ansell.
Thank you very much, Nick. I hope it is not too early to say this, but happy Christmas.
That concludes our public deliberations. We will now go into private session.