HC Deb 08 May 1951 vol 487 cc1760-1
Captain Crookshank

Mr. Speaker, would it be convenient to ask you if you will give a Ruling about the scope of debates on the Second Reading of Bills promoted by the British Transport Commission?

Mr. Speaker

I am grateful to the right hon. and gallant Gentleman for giving me this opportunity of adding to what I said on 7th March, 1951, and on 22nd February, 1949, about the scope of debate on the Second Reading of a British Transport Commission Bill.

Rulings of my predecessors on Railway Bills in the years from 1891 to 1901 on the whole confined debate to the contents of the particular Bill. But more recently, and until the Transport Act, 1947, the practice had come to be recognised that debate on a general purposes Bill of a particular railway company was normally allowed to run wide over the whole administration of that railway, but not other railways.

It seems to me to follow logically from that practice that on a Bill promoted by the British Transport Commission, if it is a Bill of wide content, the whole administration of the Executive or Executives responsible for the matters contained in the Bill may be debated. But, if the provisions of the Bill only relate, for instance, to railways, debate must not extend to road transport, or to hotels, or to inland waterways, for each of those branches of work has a separate Executive responsible for its administration. To do otherwise would vitiate the basic rule of relevancy in debate.

Again, if in a particular year a British Transport Commission Bill were introduced with wide provisions relating to Road Transport, but only one Clause about a hotel and a single Clause about an isolated railway matter, then general debate could be allowed only about road transport, and debate would be narrow on the other detailed matters in the Bill.

In the case of future Bills promoted by other nationalised undertakings similar principles will no doubt be applied in the regulation of debate.

Captain Crookshank

Would it be in order, Mr. Speaker, to thank you for your Ruling, and to say that we hope it will prove workable, as it sounds likely to be, particularly as it is in line with some of the submissions that we have made to you?

Mr. Speaker

I thank the right hon. and gallant Gentleman. I can only hope that it will be of use and guidance to the House in the future.