VOTE OF CENSURE. (Hansard, 5 May 1924)

§ Mr. BALDWIN
May I ask the Deputy Leader of the House if he has any statement to make?

§ The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Mr. Clynes)
I understood I was to be asked a question in regard to offering an opportunity for discussing a proposed Vote of Censure. I have no statement to make on business it no such question be put.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
Perhaps I was misinformed. But the right hon. Gentleman can tell us how far he proposes to go with the items on the Order Paper to-day?

§ Mr. CLYNES
As announced during my statement of last Thursday, it is proposed to try and complete the items up to and including the fourth on the Paper.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
How long would the Deputy-Leader of the House desire to keep the House to-night?

§ Mr. PRINGLE
There is no suspension of the Eleven o'clock Rule.

§ Mr. CLYNES
A suspension of the Eleven o'clock Rule would not be required to deal with the items in question. It is not our desire to keep the House very late—I should think in the region of midnight.

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
On this business, may I ask what is this Vote of Censure to which the right hon. Gentleman referred? Who is tabling it, and on what grounds?

§ Mr. CLYNES
It is a matter on which I am awaiting information.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
I would ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will give us a day next week for the discussion of the McKenna Duties.

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
Is that a Vote of Censure?

§ Mr. CLYNES
In the ordinary course of things, the Government would have regarded the Second Reading of the Finance Bill as a fitting opportunity for discussing this question. An Amendment could have been put down, but, of course, we do not refuse such a request as the right hon. Gentleman now prefers, and we had in mind to allot Thursday next in this week. Should that not be convenient, I see no reason why an arrangement should not be made, through the usual channels, for some convenient day next week. In these circumstances, however, I would like to add that we think 42 that not more than one day for a discussion on the Second Reading of the Finance Bill should be asked for when that Bill is taken.

§ Sir K. WOOD
May I ask the Lord Privy Seal whether, as he promised the House on Thursday, he has made inquiries as to the Friendly Societies Bill, and when he will be able to take that Bill?

§ Mr. CLYNES
I think I should have had notice in regard to any other question on business.

§ Mr. H. MORRISON
Arising out of the right hon. Gentleman's former answer, will he take into consideration that some of us would much prefer to vote on the McKenna Duties on their merits, and that if they are brought before the House in the form of a Vote of Censure it will be exceedingly difficult to get a decision of the House on the merits?

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
It is very inconvenient for hon. Members in arranging their own business not to know what is being taken, and the nature of it. We understood that Thursday next was to be given to the Navy Votes, and I think we are entitled to know from the Leader of the Opposition what is this Vote of Censure.

§ Mr. SPEAKER
It is not in order to put a question to the Leader of the Opposition.

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
What is this Vote of Censure? I think even any private Member of this House is entitled to know what the business is to be, for his own convenience. May I ask the Lord Privy Seal whether he has had any information about this Vote of Censure, and what are its terms?

§ Sir H. BRITTAIN
May I ask the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what the Leader of the House referred to in the statement? The hon. Gentleman told me, in answer to a question, that the Lord Privy Seal was to give an answer in reference to the discussion of the McKenna Duties. May I ask what that is? We have not heard it yet.

§ Mr. CLYNES
My hon. and gallant Friend well knows that business is subject to modifications through arrangements made, and the Government must have regard to such a request when preferred 43 by the Leader of the Opposition in the usual way. As to the question of my hon. Friend, I understood that the Financial Secretary to the Treasury had in mind the subject of the new Import Duties, and the statement I would make on the request preferred by the Loader of the Opposition.

§ Mr. BALDWIN
To prevent misunderstanding, I wish to tell my right hon. Friend that I cannot enter at this stage into any agreement as to time on the Second Reading of the Finance Bill. That must be discussed through the usual channels.

§ Sir JOHN SIMON
May I ask the Lord Privy Seal, with reference to the statement he has made as to the possible Vote of Censure, what is the view of the Government as to the discussion of the McKenna Duties in the course of the ordinary discussion of the Budget Resolutions and the Second Reading of the Finance Bill? Will it be the case that, as a result of that Vote of Censure, a decision of the House will be arrived at, and that wilt mean there will be no discussion of the McKenna Duties except in that connection?

§ Mr. CLYNES
That is a matter for Mr. Speaker. I think it is a question of ruling, but my view is we ought not to have a repetition of the discussion of these questions, if the subject is fully debated on the Vote of Censure.

§ Mr. HOPE
Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that, owing to technical reasons, this being a lapsing tax, it would be impossible to have an adequate discussion ad hoc on the McKenna Duties in the ordinary course of the Finance Bill?

§ Mr. CLYNES
I have already expressed my opinion on that point in making the announcement.

§ Mr. R. McNEILL
In view of the anxiety shown in regard to that matter below the Gangway, will this not supply an opportunity for "the oxen to draw the wain"?

§ Mr. PRINGLE
With regard to Thursday's business, can the Deputy-Leader of the House now say which of the Navy Votes will be taken on Thursday?

§ Mr. CLYNES
Clearly I cannot at the moment, as the Opposition have it in their power to decide which of the Navy Votes shall be taken on Thursday.