CARAVAN SITES AND CONTROL OF DEVELOPMENT BILL (Hansard, 2 June 1960)

§ Mr. William Ross (Kilmarnock)
On a point of order. I do not know whether I am right in anticipating that you are not going to call my Motion to recommit the Bill, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am glad of the opportunity the hon. Member has given me, because I have reached the conclusion that I am unable to call it.

§ Mr. Ross
I should be the last person to question the wisdom of your decision, Mr. Speaker, but I am the first person to draw upon the sources of your wisdom and Parliamentary experience to ask you if you can help me. This is the last opportunity we shall have of amending the Bill. The Amendment upon which I sought Recommital arises out of the Amendment which the Government made in Committee, so that we had no chance of making this Amendment in Committee. In drafting my Amendment I had considerable help from the Government draftsmen.
If you will look at the substance of my Amendment, you will see that it is of such a nature that it cannot be dealt with in another place, being privileged. Can you give me some advice to rescue me from the consequences of that fact? The Amendment which the Government put on the Order Paper, and which was accepted by the Committee, will be rendered ineffective unless the power contained in my Amendment is put into the Bill. I took the natural precaution of finding out whether my Amendment would be acceptable to the Government and I understood that it would be. Can you give me your advice about how further we can proceed?

§ Mr. Speaker
My difficulty is that the fact that the hon. Member's Amendment is acceptable to the Government does not assist me in my duty towards the House and, strictly in that sense, that is irrelevant. The only hope I can give the hon. Member is that in the distressing circumstances which he has mentioned, the House will be willing to waive Privilege in order that the matter can be dealt with in another place.