HC Deb 14 November 1933 vol 281 cc863-76

Standing Order No. 1 (2), line 3, leave out from "unless," to "exempted," in line 6, and insert "proceedings."

Standing Order No. 1 (3), line 3, leave out "and at four of the clock on Fridays."

Standing Order No. 1 (4), line 4, leave out "the speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker"; after "or," insert "the."

Standing Order No. 1 (5), line 2, leave out "and four respectively."

Standing Order No. 1 (5), line 3, after "business, "insert" except proceedings exempted as hereinafter provided from the operation of this standing order."

Standing Order No. 1, after paragraph (5), insert paragraph:

(6) The proceedings on a Bill originating in Committee of Ways and Means, proceedings made in pursuance of any Act of Parliament (including proceedings on the Army and Air Force (Annual) Bill), or proceedings in pursuance of any standing order, the proceedings on the reports of the Committee of Ways and means and of Committees authorising the expenditure of public money, except the Committee of Supply, may be entered upon after eleven of the clock though opposed, shall not be interrupted under the provisions of this standing order, and if under discussion when the business is postponed under the provisions of any standing order may be resumed and proceeded with, though opposed, after the interruption of business.

Standing Order No. 1 (7), line 10, leave out "o'clock, "and insert" of the clock."

Standing Order No. 1 (7), line 13, after "postponed, "insert" under the provisions of any standing order."

Standing Order No. 1 (8), line 6, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 1, leave out paragraph (9).

Standing Order No. 2, line 2, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 2, line 3, after "motions," insert "Standing Order No. 1 (3) (4) and (7) shall apply to the Sittings on Fridays with the substitution of four of the clock for eleven of the clock"; after "and," insert "the House."

Standing Order No. 2, line 4, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 2, line 5, after "adjourned," add "After the business under consideration at four has been disposed of, no opposed business shall be taken."

Standing Order No. 3, leave out "3. When such business has been disposed of," and insert "At the conclusion of business."

Standing Order No. 3, line 2, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 4 (1) (c), line 11, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 4 (1) (d), line 6, leave out "giving," and insert "ballots for."

Leave out Standing Order No. 5.

Standing Order No. 6, line 7, after "report," insert "not already entered upon."

Standing Order No. 7, line 1, leave out from "notice," to end of Standing Order, and add "of motion for a date on which notices are entitled to precedence shall be given for any date beyond the second day on which such notices are entitled to precedence."

Leave out Standing Order No. 7A.

Standing Order No. 8 (1), line 2, leave out from "Friday," to end of Standing Order, and add,—

(2) No. private business shall be considered after three of the clock upon Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and any business not reached shall stand over to the next sitting.

(3) Any private business entered upon and not disposed of by the time referred to in paragraph (2) of this order, shall be postponed until such time as the Chairman of Ways and Means may determine.

(4) Private business, if so directed by the Chairman of Ways and Means, shall be taken at half-past seven of the clock on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, or as soon thereafter as any Motion for the Adjournment of the House standing over has been disposed of, provided that such business shall be distributed as near as may be proportionately between the sittings on which Government business has precedence and the other sittings.

(5) No opposed private business other than that under consideration shall be taken after half-past nine of the clock."

Standing Order No. 9 (1), line 4, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 9 (5), line 8, after "has," insert "before questions are disposed of."

Standing Order No. 13, line 4, leave out from "of," to the end of the Standing Order, and add "arranging government business, whether orders of the day or notices of motions, in such order as they may think fit, subject to precedence of private members' business on those days on which such business has precedence."

Standing Order No. 14, line 1, leave out "This House will, in future, appoint."

Standing Order No. 14, line 2, after "means," insert "shall be appointed by the House."

Standing Order No. 15, leave out paragraph (1).

Standing Order No. 15 (2), line 1, leave out "Not more than twenty days," and insert "Twenty days and no more (unless as hereinafter provided)."

Standing Order No. 15 (2), line 3, leave out "estimates for the Army," and after "Navy," insert "Army."

Standing Order No. 15 (2), line 4, leave out "force," and leave out "services," and after "civil," insert "estimates."

Standing Order No. 15 (6), line 3, leave out "sitting," and insert "day."

Standing Order No. 15 (6), line 6, leave out "at the close."

Standing Order No. 15 (6), line 6, leave out "sitting," and insert "day."

Standing Order No. 15 (6), line 8, leave out "of Committees."

Standing Order No. 15 (6), line 8, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 15 (7), line 6, leave out "service."

Standing Order No. 15 (7), line 11, leave out "estimates for the."

Standing Order No. 15 (7), line 12, leave out "force," and after "departments," insert "estimates."

Standing Order No. 15 (8), line 7, leave out "service."

Standing Order No. 15 (8), line 12, leave out "estimates for the."

Standing Order No. 15 (8), line 13, leave out "force," and after "departments," insert "estimates."

Standing Order No. 16, line 2, leave out "shall," and insert "may."

Standing Order No. 16, line 2, leave out from "for," to "any," in line 4.

Standing Order No. 16, line 4, leave out "other."

Leave out Standing Order No. 17 and insert new Standing Order,—

Whenever an order of the day is read for the House to resolve itself into committee Mr. Speaker shall leave the chair without putting any question, and the House shill thereupon resolve itself into such committee, unless notice of an instruction to such committee has been given (when such instruction shall be first disposed of), or unless on first going into committee of supply on the Navy, Army, Air or Civil Estimates respectively, or on any vote of credit, an amendment be moved or question raised relating to the estimates proposed to be taken in supply.

Standing Order No. 18 (1), line 2, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 18 (1), line 3, leave out "of a committee of the whole House."

Standing Order No. 18 (1), line 10, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 18 (1), line 18, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 18 (5), line 5, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 18 (5), line 6, leave out "the Speaker's," and insert "Mr. Speaker's."

Standing Order No. 18 (5), line 7, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 21, line 2, leave out the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 22, line 3, leave out "of a Committee."

Standing Order No. 23, line 1, leave out from "Chairman," to "shall" in line 2.

Standing Order No. 24, leave out form the beginning of the Standing Order to "the," in line 2.

Standing Order No. 25, line 3, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 25, line 5, leave out "o'clock," and insert "of the clock."

Standing Order No. 26 (2), line 8, at the beginning, leave out "and also if a Clause be then," and insert "(3) When a Clause is."

Standing Order No. 26 (2), line 14, after "put," insert "(4)."

Standing Order No. 26 (3), line 2, leave out "the Speaker or," and insert "Mr. Speaker or in Committee."

Standing Order No. 27a, line 1, after "or," insert "in respect of."

Standing Order No, 28 (1), line 1, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker"; after "or" insert "the."

Standing Order No. 28 (2), line 4, leave out "nominate," and insert "announce the names of."

Leave out Standing Order No. 32.

Leave out Standing Order No. 33.

Standing Order No. 34, line 2, leave out "of the whole House."

Standing Order No. 35, line 2, after "postponed," insert "without Question put."

Standing Order No. 35, line 3, after "Clauses," insert "and Schedules, if any."

Standing Order No. 35, line 3, leave out "without Question put."

Leave out Standing Order No. 36.

Standing Order No. 41, line 2, leave out "may be proposed."

Standing Order No. 41, line 4, after "house" add "may be proposed."

Standing Order No. 46 (2), line 6, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 47 (1), line 1, at beginning, insert "Not more than."

Standing Order No. 47 (1), line 6, leave out from "order," to "On," in line 8.

Standing Order No. 47 (1), line 17, leave out "the," and insert "a."

Standing Order No. 47 (5), line 2, after "26," insert "(1) (2) (3) and (4)."

Standing Order No. 47 (5), line 6, leave out "Chairman of Ways and Means," and insert "chair."

Standing Order No. 47 (5), line 11, leave out "of a committee of the Whole House."

Standing Order No. 47 (5), at end, add "(6) All Standing Committees shall have leave to print and circulate with the votes the minutes of their proceedings and any amended clauses of bills committed to them."

Standing Order No. 48, line 5, leave out "to the classes of bills committed to such committees."

Standing Order No. 48, line 7, leave out "and to the qualifications of the members selected."

Standing Order No. 48, line 21, after "bill," insert "and in adding such members shall have regard to their qualifications."

Leave out Standing Order No. 49a.

Leave out Standing Order No. 51.

Standing Order No. 52, line 1, leave out "of a committee."

Standing Order No. 53, line 1, after "every," insert "such," and leave out from "report," to "shall," in line 2.

Standing Order No. 53, line 2, leave out "any."

Standing Order No. 53, line 3, leave out "being."

Standing Order No. 54, line 2, leave out "except while the House is at prayers."

Standing Order No. 54, line 3, after "sitting," insert "of the House."

Standing Order No. 54, line 4, at end, add "on any day on which the House has sat."

Leave out Standing Order No. 60, and insert new Standing Order:

The names of the members present each day at the sitting of any select committee, and in the event of any division taking place, the question proposed, the name of the proposer and the respective votes thereupon of the members present, shall be entered on the minutes of the proceedings of the committee, and such minutes of proceedings shall be reported to the House.

Leave out Standing Order No. 61, and insert new Standing Order:

The names of members present each day at the sitting of any select committee shall be entered on the minutes of evidence, if any.

Standing Order No. 64, line 4, leave out from the first "committees," to end of Standing Order.

Leave out Standing Order No. 65.

Standing Order No. 75, line 1, leave out "standing."

Standing Order No. 75, line 6, leave out "eleven," and insert "not more than fifteen."

Standing Order No. 75, at end, add "The committee shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, and to report from time to time."

Standing Order No. 77, line 5, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 79, line 3, after "referred" insert "without any question being put."

Standing Order No. 79, line 3, after "to," insert "a committee to be designated."

Standing Order No. 79, line 4, leave out "without any question being put."

Standing Order No. 81 (1), line 4, leave out "of the committee."

Standing Order No. 81 (2), line 4, leave out from "shall" to "be" in line 5.

Standing Order No. 81 (2), at end, add,—

"(3) Provided also that the Chairman of Ways and Means or Deputy-Chairman do take the chair as Deputy-Speaker, when requested so to do by Mr. Speaker, without any formal communication to the House; and that Mr. Speaker shall nominate, at the commencement of every Session, a panel of not more than five members to act as temporary chairmen of committees, when requested by the Chairman of Ways and Means."

Standing Order No. 52, line 3, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 88, line 11, leave out from "sitting," to end of the Standing Order.

Standing Order No. 90, line 7, leave out "the Speaker," and insert "Mr. Speaker."

Standing Order No. 91, line 2, leave out from "house," to "take," in line 11, and insert "the Postmaster of the House or other persons appointed by the Postmaster-General shall attend daily (Sundays excepted) for the delivery and re-direction of all letters arriving in course of post and shall."

Standing Order No. 91, line 11, leave out "his," and insert "their."

Standing Order No. 92, line 1, leave out "officer," and insert "officers."

Standing Order No. 92, line 1, leave out "his," and insert "their."

Standing Order No. 92, line 3, leave out from "undelivered," to end of the Standing Order.

Leave out Standing Order No. 93.—[Mr. Baldwin.]

9.45 p.m.

The LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL (Mr. Baldwin)

I think that it is due to the House that I should say a few words in explanation of the appearance of this formidable list of Amendments on the Order Paper. I am glad to see my right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Burton (Colonel Gretton) here. I hope that he is now satisfied. The Amendments have been on the Paper for three days. They were upon it on Thursday morning, and that gave us a week-end in which to study the effects of the changes. I will say, having listened with some attention to the last Bill, that I can assure the House that there is nothing in these Amendments that will curb the liberty or clip the wings of any hon. Member.

The House will remember, especially all those who are interested in procedure, that a Select Committee upon procedure was appointed by the Labour Government in 1931. The Committee had not concluded their labours when the General Election came. The Committee were set up again by the present Government in March, 1932, and among the works that they have accomplished was the appointment of a small technical committee, nominated by Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of going through the Standing Orders to see if any had fallen into desuetude, whether any alterations in them could make them simpler and, in short, whether anything could be done to bring them more up-to-date. Mr. Speaker was good enough to nominate a Committee, which consisted of the right hon Gentleman the Member for Wood Green (Mr. G. Locker-Lampson), the hon. Baronet the Member for Ipswich (Sir J. Ganzoni), the hon. Member for Govan (Mr. N. Maclean), the hon. and gallant Member for Banffshire (Sir M. Wood), Sir Horace Dawkins, the Clerk of the House, and the Chairman of Ways and Means, as chairman. Their terms of reference were: To examine the Standing Orders relating to public business, and to make such suggestions as they may think fit for the removal of ambiguities, for the repeal of those Orders that are found to be obsolete, and for the amending of others to bring them into conformity with the present practice. I am sure that the House is considerably indebted to the Committee for the thoroughness with which they have done their work. They presented a unanimous report to Mr. Speaker, and the extent of their work may he judged by the number of the Amendments on the Order Paper. The majority of the Amendments are of a drafting character. They entail mere verbal alteration. There are three alterations in procedure, not of considerable importance. There are three definite suggestions as to alteration, and I will just mention them.

The House will remember that an alteration was made not long ago in the alteration of the time for private Member's Motions. One whole day was given, instead of two half days, and the Committee propose that Notices of Motions should not be given beyond the second Motion day instead of the fourth, they took the view as at present that it might well be that subjects chosen with shorter notice might be fresher, that the time would not be booked so far ahead, and in that way it might be more convenient for private Members. They have proposed a change by removing the provision that Supply shall be the first Order on Thursdays. The reason for that is that, on many occasions during the Session, if the Government take other business on a Thursday than Supply, a Motion has to be put down. The Motion, as a matter of fact, is very seldom divided upon, but the Committee thought it was unnecessary even that such a Motion should be put down. It has no effect at all upon Supply. It does not curtail Supply. The number of days that have to be given to Supply is fixed, and there is no alteration in that at all. It is open to the Government, as every hon. Member knows, to put down Supply on any day when they think fit. In the circumstances, the Committee think that it is unnecessary now to regard Thursday as a day sacrosanct to Supply necessitating a special Motion if any other Government business is to be taken.

The third point is quite a small one. It is a change. It is the omission of the words in the Standing Orders about the sittings of Committees except while the House is at prayers. This alteration of the wording merely conforms to what has, for some years now, been the practice of the House. In the process of revising and tidying up generally the Standing Orders, six of the existing Standing Orders have been combined with others. It is proposed to repeal five Standing Orders which are considered to be obsolete, and the general effect, if these Amendments are passed, will be that we shall have 93 Standing Orders in future, instead of 104.

I am glad to say that my right hon. Friend the Chairman of Ways and Means is in charge of these Amendments. He is thoroughly familiar, not only from his position as Chairman of Ways and Means, but from having been Chairman of the Committee, as I have told the House, and he is familiar with the reasons in every case which induced the Committee to take the unanimous view which they did.

9.52 p.m.

Mr. ATTLEE

May I say on behalf of the Opposition that we raise no objection to these alterations? We think that they conduce to the benefit of the House. We recognise, of course, that they do not go very far. They are only clearing up the smaller ambiguities, and they leave out many drastic rearrangements of business of the House. In the short time that remains in this Session, these Amendments should be passed.

9.53 p.m.

Colonel GRETTON

At the commencement of business to—day, I raised objection to taking these Orders. Since the Sitting has progressed, I have been able to satisfy myself that the facts are as my right hon. Friend has stated. The Amendments are principally drafting Amendments, and those which make changes in procedure are unimportant, and will be for the convenience of the House. Those relating to private Members' Motions are all for the convenience of the House, and revert, I think in fact, to an old custom. I am not going to raise any objection to the other Amendments, although I regard one regular fixed day for Supply as desirable, because it enables Members to know when Supply is going to be taken, and I am rather sorry to see this relaxation in the regularity of the procedure of the House. It is not important, and I think that the House might very well agree. I hope that my right hon. Friend and the House will excuse me for taking such an interest in these matters. I have been here a long time, and I am one of those who value the procedure, and I am rather alarmed when I see large changes proposed to be made. To-night I have nothing further to add.

9.55 p.m.

Sir HUGH O'NEILL

On a point of Order. You put the question, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, that these alterations to the Standing Orders be approved. Does that mean that they will not be put seriatim?

Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Captain Bourne)

That is so, but it will be open, of course, to any hon. Member to move an Amendment to the Schedule, and, if any such Amendment were agreed to, the amended Schedule would then become the Schedule attached to the Motion.

9.56 p.m.

Lord EUSTACE PERCY

I hesitate to intervene on any question of the procedure of the House, but I hope I shall not be out of order in saying one word to-night. If I could induce any considerable number of hon. Members to divide against this Motion, I think I should do so; and I should do so as a protest against the Government introducing this Motion in advance of any decision as to the major recommendations of the Select Committee, or any decision going beyond those recommendations and representing the Government's own conclusion as to the future procedure of this House. The Motion has been recommended by the Lord President of the Council, by the hon. Gentleman who is leading the Opposition for the moment, and by my right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Burton (Colonel Gretton), on the ground that there is, after all, nothing in it at all; that, in other words, the House appointed a Select Committee to set its house in order, and that all that we are doing about it is to transfer the antimacassar from the armchair to the sofa. My right hon. Friend the Lord President of the Council assures us that none of us are going to have our wings clipped—that nothing is changed. With reference to the previous Bill that was before the House, I picture him assuring the skylark in his cage that it is true that he is not going to be let loose, but in any case his cage is not going to be made smaller. There is a great feeling in this House and in the country that our procedure is antiquated—that the growing revolt against Parliamentary institutions throughout the world has only too much justification in the confinement of this House in all its procedure within ancient, archaeological survivals; and I cannot but protest that the Government should have asked us to vote on this, the pettiest and the smallest of the recommendations of the Select Committee, before having introduced any more far-reaching Resolution.

I may not argue to-night the merits of the Report of the Select Committee, but I thought that the Report itself went far too short a way. I feel that we need some revision far more fundamental. But may we not consider at this moment what might be well said outside this House—that the House revises its procedure only in those respects which do not call for any marked degree of mental effort on the part of His Majesty's Government or of any Member of the House? We are content with the things that we can do with the minimum of thought. Rather than assent to this—quite unobjectionable in itself—proposal, if I could get any support I would divide the House against it, on the basis that we cannot consider any revision of the procedure of the House until we have really far-reaching proposals.

10.0 p.m.

Sir BASIL PETO

I think that my Noble Friend the Member for Hastings (Lord E. Percy) is wrong on two points. First of all, had he listened carefully to the Leader of the House, he would have heard him give the terms of reference to the Committee which has just sat under the chairmanship of the Chairman of Ways and Means. Those are very narrow terms of reference. They do not deal with the question of reform of the procedure of the House at all, and there is nothing in the proposal now before the House which either prejudices or deals at all with the great question which my Noble Friend has in mind. On the contrary, if there is to be any reform of our procedure, it is surely advisable that the Orders of the House as they now stand should be clearly stated in intelligible language, and should be spaced so that the Standing Order that refers to any particular matter can be found by hon. Members, much more easily than at present, in a separate compartment, instead of dotted about as they have been added to the Standing Orders from time to time and placed here or there. The Committee on Procedure, of which I was a member, did devote a great deal of time and heard a great deal of evidence in all directions and from all points of view as to great alterations in our pro- cedure to accelerate the passage of Measures through the House and from various other points of view; but we made the separate recommendation that a small committee be appointed by Mr. Speaker, simply to revise the existing Rules and to make them intelligible. That and nothing else is now before the House, and I would say that, far from its being derogatory to the dignity of the House to deal with this small matter, it is an essential preliminary to considering intelligently any fundamental alterations in the Rules themselves.

The Leader of the House has given such a clear explanation, not only of the genesis of these Amendments, but of their scope and of what they purport to do, that it is quite unnecessary for me to add anything further. I would only say that I entirely disagree with my Noble Friend the Member for Hastings, and that there is no confusion between two totally different things—the one the mere tidying up and rendering intelligible of the Rules of Order as they are, and the other the consideration of perhaps necessary fundamental alterations in those Rules of Order. Those are two totally separate things. All that the House is asked to do to-night is to pass this preliminary work, which has involved a great deal of labour, and which could not possibly have been carried out except under the expert guidance of my, right hon. Friend who presides over the committees of the House, and with his able aid and that of other Members of the Committee. We ought to be very grateful to them for the work they have done, and nobody more than my Noble Friend who has strong views as to the alterations of procedure that ought to be provided for in our Rules. I cannot agree that there was any need to introduce this contentious subject at all. The matter is one which, as it seems to me, should go through as a matter of course, with a vote of thanks to those hon. and right hon. Gentlemen who have devoted their time to this very necessary preliminary work.

10.4 p.m.

Mr. MAXTON

I do not want to offer anything in the way of opposition to these proposals; I rise merely to enforce an interruption that I made at the commencement of business to—day and at the time when this Committee was set up, namely, to express the view that, on a Committee of this sort, dealing with the Standing Orders of the House, which affect every Member of the House, every party in the House should have secured representation. I do not say that any one of us had any desire, as a matter of entertainment, to be engaged on the job that this Committee have been doing. Judging by the results of the work, it is too much like schoolmasters correcting boys' essays to make any appeal to me But I would put this point very strongly. that, if the Government were seeking what they said they intended, namely, the wider alteration of the Standing Orders, every section in this House should be represented on the Committee which does that. I want to say to the Leader of the House that this is precisely the kind of committee to which appointments should not be decided on a purely numerical basis. Indeed, one of the most important things about the Standing Orders is the extent to which they secure the rights of minorities, and in the framing or revision of Standing Orders minorities should have as great a say as the bigger and more powerful parties, because one thing that has always been obvious to me is that the big battalions can always protect themselves. It is the small groups who require something in the nature of rules and regulations to see that the liberties of the House, which are of very great importance if the institution means anything at all, should be fully and adequately safeguarded.

10.6 p.m.

The CHAIRMAN of WAYS and MEANS (Sir Dennis Herbert)

I think the method in which these alterations have been received by the House generally makes my task in replying to the Debate a very light one indeed. My right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Burton (Colonel Gretton) regretted losing one fixed day for Supply. I think if he were devoting his special attention to Supply and making up his mind that the one day in the week on which he would be here for that purpose would be Thursday, he would find in practice that he would usually arrive on a day when Supply was not being taken and that it was on some other day. That was the real justification for this alteration, that the taking of Supply on Thursday was a rule which was more honoured in the authorised breach, if I may use that term, than in the observance, authorised because the old Standing Order provides that Tuesday could always be taken away from Supply.

The Noble Lord the Member for Hastings (Lord E. Percy) is a Member whose interest in procedure we all know and respect and value, but I am afraid on this occasion he has not shown his usual industry in inquiring into what was the real object of this Committee, because if he or any other Member of the House wishes for bigger alterations or improvements in procedure, this is an absolutely necessary preliminary to it. I have always regretted that there have not been more Members of the House who have really made a study of the Standing Orders. I cannot help feeling a great deal of sympathy with a new Member who comes to read the Standing Orders and at last throws them away in disgust and says he cannot understand them. I remember some years ago a very clever old lady for whom I had been doing some legal business writing to me and saying, "I can speak, as you know, fluently six languages, and I can read three others fairly well, but I cannot understand the language of your legal documents." I can assure you, Sir, that my legal documents were to my mind easy reading compared with the Standing Orders as they are at present. To give one example, of what my right hon. Friend referred to—its being difficult to find what you wanted in the Standing Orders. Take the position of myself and the Deputy-Chairman of Ways and Means in acting as Deputy-Speaker. That is dealt with in Standing Order No. 1 and in Standing Order 81, and surely nothing much more inconvenient than that could be imagined. I think it only remains to say a word in reply to the hon. Member for Bridgeton (Mr. Maxton) and to express the hope and confident belief that if he studies the revised Standing Orders, which will I hope soon be printed with these alterations, he will find that they give him every protection that he had before and perhaps greater opportunities of using his great Parliamentary skill within the limits of order.

Question put, and agreed to.