MP's League Tables Published

1.27.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 14th Apr 2003

This week parliament published its league tables on the performance of MPs in the last session of parliament (2001-2).

The tables list MP's contributions in terms of their numbers of parliamentary questions and the debates in which they have spoken.

Vincent Cable, MP for Twickenham, was the only MP in parliament who was in the top dozen on all three major measures (oral and written questions, and contributions to debates) and he was the top Liberal Democrat overall.

Out of 640 MPs, he made the fifth largest number of contributions to debates - 85 - as against an average of 22; the list was headed by Tory MP Eric Forth and Labour's Father of the House, Tam Dalyell. After the party leaders he was second only to Tory MP Michael Fabricant in oral questions, asking 53 questions of Ministers including the Prime minster, against an

average of 10. And he asked 681 written questions to Ministers against an average of 103.

He said: "since companies, teachers and hospitals have to be measured in league tables, it is only right that MPs should be as well. It is possible to quibble with the measures; quantity is obviously not the same as quality. "

"Nonetheless it gives a reasonable measure of who is active in "

"Westminster and who isn't".

"I was very gratified to find I have one of the best all round "

"performances in Westminster and the Lib Dems in general were well above the average. I operate on the basis of speaking frequently and briefly and I try to be constructive and relevant rather than making petty party political points".