Several people have contacted me about the NHS Bill which was scheduled second for debate on Friday. This Bill aimed to essentially reverse the changes to the NHS introduced by the coalition government in the last Parliament.it was promoted by the former Leader of the Green Party and had the current Leader of the Labour Party named as one of its Sponsors.

A very similar bill was given a Second Reading in the last Parliament and although it progressed into the Committee Stage was ultimately abandoned.

Many of said it was undemocratic that the Bill was not given a fuller debate. I would argue that if the Labour Party had won the election they could have and no doubt would have introduced such a Bill and would have had every right to get it on to the statute book but they did not win the election.

As for debating the issue of the NHS if the Opposition want to debate it they can do anytime they like when they have one of their Opposition Day debates which they are guaranteed a set number of  in each session.

As for the time of the previous debate of foreign national offenders it was open for any member to put forward a motion to end the debate if they thought it had gone on too long. Nobody did.