§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith) moved, "That, for the remainder of the Session, Government Business be not interrupted under the provisions of any Standing Order regulating the Sittings of the House, and may be entered upon at any hour, though opposed, and have precedence at every Sitting; that, at the conclusion of Government Business each day, Mr. Speaker do adjourn the House without Question put; that on Fridays the House, unless it otherwise resolves, shall at its rising stand adjourned until the following Monday; and that no Motions be made to bring in Bills under Standing Order No. 11."
1672§ The Motion I have to submit is the one which is customary at this time of the Session, but it contains one provision which is a departure from precedent. It is necessary to put in the words, "and have precedence at every Sitting" because the fourth Standing Order provides that, after Whitsuntide until Michaelmas, Government Business shall have precedence. If, by any chance the sittings of the House were prolonged until after Michaelmas, private Members' rights would at once be restored, and the necessity would, I am afraid, arise for the Government to bring in an independent Motion to prevent that state of things from coming into existence. It therefore seems, under the unusual conditions in which we are at present, desirable to stop that gap by introducing these unusual words into the Motion.
§ It is the custom, when this annual Motion is made, for the person responsible for it to make a brief survey of the work which they have actually done and of that part of the legislative programme which is still unachieved, and of which we may reasonably contemplate the accomplishment.