BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE. (Hansard, 23 May 1940)

§ Mr. Lees-Smith
Will the Prime Minister state the business of the House for next week?

§ Mr. Attlee:
The business of the House for next week will be:
Tuesday—Supply (8th Allotted Day); Committee; Ministry of Information Vote. Report stage of the National Loans Resolution.
Wednesday—Second Reading of the Finance Bill. It will also be necessary, on grounds of urgency, to ask the House to pass the National Loans Bill through all its stages.
Thursday—Supply (9th Allotted Day); Committee; Board of Trade Vote.

§ Mr. Maxton
May I ask the right hon. Gentleman on what basis these Supply Days have been arrived at and how the subjects have been chosen?

§ Mr. Attlee
In the short time available steps were taken to ascertain the views of parties and the Votes which have been announced are those which were generally desired. After Questions I will make a statement on the subject of the allocation of Supply Days.

§ Mr. Maxton
May I ask that the accident by which I and my hon. Friends were omitted from this general consultation will not be repeated?

§ Mr. Attlee
The question of the method of selecting Votes for discussion on Allotted Supply Days has been considered. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister desires the Leader of the House to make such business arrangements as will so far as is possible meet the views of the House as a whole. It is suggested that the best method will be for the usual channels to ascertain the subjects 313 which hon. Members desire to debate on Allotted Supply Days, and all parties are invited to make their wishes known through the Whips. Every endeavour will be made to give effect to them in the limited number of days allotted to Supply. I venture to hope that this proposal will commend itself to the House, and that we shall thereby arrive at a satisfactory arrangement.

§ Mr. Maxton
I want to ask the Leader of the House if he will not add an additional safeguard? The Prime Minister will recognise that ultimately it is the Government which has selected these Supply Days. If one has to go to the Whips, I would point out that the only recognised Whips in this House are the Government Whips, and therefore it is the Government who are arranging these days. May I ask if some provision could not be added by which a requisition by a substantial number of back-benchers would be recognised as a demand that must be granted?

§ Mr. Attlee
I would say, on that, that in the past, in the usual division of this House there has been an allocation of Supply Days between the larger and smaller Oppositions, but that when I had the honour to lead the Opposition it was always my endeavour to consultmembers in all parts of the House, and on occasions from the Government side requisitions have come forward for different subjects. We have always endeavoured to fall in with them. Under present conditions it is essential, I think, to get the greatest measure of agreement in the House so that all sections will be able to raise the subjects they want. Therefore, while I cannot bind myself to accepting a requisition of a specific number I can state that the Government will certainly take into full consideration any general desire by any substantial body of Members for any subject.

§ Mr. Maxton
That does not satisfy me. It leaves us in the position in which the Government will decide this business, which has hitherto been a Back-Bench business. I want to be assured that, should there arise an occasion on which a substantial number of Members want a specific Vote discussed, to which the Government are hostile, there will be a provision by which we can insist on having that Vote.

§ Mr. Attlee
The hon. Member cannot really take it further than my statement and it is difficult to lay down some cast-iron rule. If there were any substantial number of Members who wanted a subject discussed no Government would refuse to give adequate facilities. I am sure that this Government would not.

§ Sir Percy Harris
Will my right hon. Friend make it clear who will initiate these various Debates? Will they be initiated from the Government benches or will the right of initiating them be allocated according to the various sections of the House?

§ Mr. Attlee
The suggestion, I think, would be that if one particular section of the House wanted to raise a matter they might agree on someone to open the Debate, but generally speaking I think the usual practice on Supply is that a statement is made by the Minister first. That is the easiest way of initiating the discussion.