§ 45. Mr. Kennedyasked the Prime Minister whether he is prepared to consider the desirability of amending the Standing Orders of the House by means of a rule under which a time limit may be imposed on individual Members addressing the House, in order to expedite the conduct of business and to provide an alternative to late sittings?
§ Sir J. SimonAs the Prime Minister informed the right hon. Member last year, the procedure of this House was considered as recently as 1931 and 1932 by a Select Committee, and my right hon. Friend does not think any useful purpose would be served by a further inquiry. As was then pointed out, the question of a time limit to be imposed on the length of speeches has been considered many times, and no satisfactory remedy has been found. The matter was dealt with in evidence given before the Select Committee to which I have referred. The solution rests with hon. Members themselves, and, in this connection, I would respectfully recall remarks on the subject made on various occasions by Mr. Speaker.