§ Mr. S. SilvermanOn a point of order. Would it be in order, Mr. Speaker, for me to ask the Leader of the House a question about today's business?
§ Mr. Speaker indicated assent.
§ Mr. SilvermanThe right hon. Gentleman will, no doubt recall that yesterday, in announcing that he was putting a Motion on the Order Paper about referring a matter to the Special Committee on Procedure, he said:
I am putting the appropriate Motion on the Order Paper today…and would invite the House to take it tomorrow."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th November. 1962; Vol. 667, c. 1014.]That is to say, the right hon. Gentleman was inviting the House to take it today. In the exchanges which followed, I asked whether, in that case, it would be taken at a time when the House could reasonably debate it and the right hon. Gentleman said that he would consider that.The Motion appears on the Order Paper today as Government item No. 6. Some of the five items which precede it are substantial. There is a Notice of Motion on the Order Paper to move to suspend the Standing Order, but that is limited to one hour. In those circumstances, may I ask the Leader of the House whether it is still intended to take this Motion today?
§ The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Iain Macleod)If I may reply, I put down the Motion, as I told the House I would do, at the earliest possible moment, and I thought it appropriate to move to suspend the 1228 Standing Order for one hour. My feeling is that there is a good chance that we will be able to say such things as we wish to say in that time. If not, however, and if that is inconvenient, I would then move to defer it until tomorrow, when, I believe, there is no other business which is not exempt after ten o'clock and I could move for an hour's extension, which could be wholly devoted to this matter, from 10 p.m. until 11 p.m.