§ The Lord Privy Seal (Sir Stafford Cripps)I beg to move,
That during the present Session the following provisions shall have effect as respects the Sittings of the House, notwithstanding anything in any Standing Order, Order, or Resolution or the practice of the House—(1) If, by reason of an air-raid alarm signal being given while the House is sitting, the Sitting is suspended, it shall be resumed 4 as soon as may be after the release signal is given;(2) If at the time appointed for the Meeting of the House on any day an air raid alarm signal has been given and the release signal has not been given, the Meeting of the House shall be postponed until as soon as may be after the release signal is given:Provided that, where the Sitting of the House on any day is suspended by virtue of the foregoing paragraph till after the time appointed for the Meeting of the House on the following day, this paragraph shall not apply with respect to that following day and the ordinary practice of the House with respect to overlapping Sittings shall apply;(3) Where any Sitting of the House is suspended or postponed as aforesaid—shall be postponed by the length of the period for which the Sitting has been suspended or postponed:
- (a) the time at which any Business, the consideration of which has not begun, is required by any Standing Order, Order or Resolution of the House to be taken; and
- (b) the time at which any such Business, or any Business the consideration of which has begun but has not been completed, is required as aforesaid to be concluded or interrupted;
Provided that, where at any such Sitting the remainder of the Business of the House has been disposed of before the time at which Private Business, or any Motion for Adjournment under Standing Order No. 8, is required to be considered by the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, that Private Business or Motion shall be considered immediately after the conclusion of the remainder of the Business;(4) At any Sitting of the House which has been suspended or postponed as aforesaid, any Motion or other Business which, but for this paragraph, could not have been made or taken without notice, or would have been required to be made or taken at a particular time or at a particular stage of the proceedings, may be made by, or taken at the instance of, a Minister of the Crown without notice and at any other time or other stage of the proceedings.This Motion regulates the proceedings of the House in the event of interruptions by reason of air-raid warnings. Its effect is to prolong a Sitting by the length of the period by which it has been suspended or postponed, the House resuming after the "Danger past" signal. The Motion, which has been drawn up in consultation with the authorities of the House, was first passed in July, 1940, and it has to be renewed at the beginning of each Session.
§ Question put, and agreed to.