§ MR. LAURENCE HARDY (Kent, Ashford)I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether there is any precedent for the suspension or alteration of the Rules of Procedure or Standing Orders regulating the public business of the House by the Government without an order of the House; and whether, seeing 1383 that in connection with the new method of taking divisions ancient usage has been departed from in several points, namely, the necessity for every Member who takes part in a division to be within the doors of the House when the Question is put if his vote is to be valid, the requirement that every Member should withdraw from the Chamber whilst the division is being taken, the compulsion upon every Member inside the House to vote in any division, and other points of the same character, he intends to give the earliest opportunity to the House to record its opinion upon the changes which have been introduced into its ancient procedure.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThere is in the new practice, which I understand to be experimental only, nothing which contravenes any of the Standing Orders. If it is found, as I believe it to be, generally acceptable, I think it would be desirable to embody it in a new Standing Order, and repeal the old Standing Orders which do not give a recognisable description of a division under the new plan. This can be done with other alterations of the Standing Orders which may be necessitated by the recommendations of the Procedure Committee.
§ MR. LAURENCE HARDYsaid the first part of his Question had not been answered.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThere is nothing against the ordinary practice and procedure of the House in what has taken place. I believe the regulations which were acted upon were of a mandatory kind and were imposed at the discretion of the Speaker or of the Chairman of Committees.