HC Deb 02 August 1966 vol 733 cc392-4

. That sanction be given to the application of the sum of £39,107 4s. 11d. out of surpluses arising out of certain Votes for Air Services for the year ended 31st March, 1965, to defray expenditure in excess of that appropriated to one Vote for those Services and to meet deficits in receipts not offset by savings in expenditure from the respective Votes as set out in and temporarily authorised in the Treasury Minute of 1st February, 1966 (H.C. 71) and reported upon by the Committee of Public Accounts in their Report (H.C. 98).

Question put and agreed to.

Resolutions to be reported.

Report to be received Tomorrow;

Committee to sit again Tomorrow.

Mr. John Wells

On a point of order, Sir Eric. I seek now to raise with you the point of order which I sought to raise earlier and which you ruled I should raise now. If I recollect aright, you were at that point on Vote 10. On that Vote, on the last Vote, on the previous one and on two earlier Votes, you failed to use the generally accepted form of words, "I think the Ayes have it; the Ayes have it". You merely said, "I think the Ayes have it". Perhaps you did think it, Sir Eric, but you never specifically said, "The Ayes have it".

I submit, therefore—[Laughter.] It is all very well for hon. Members opposite to let these very large sums of money be voted on the nod at this hour of the night and to laugh and giggle, behaving exactly as though they were in a small town council I know not where. I submit to you, Sir Eric, that you failed to put the Questions properly and they do not stand.

Sir Knox Cunningham (Antrim, South)

Further to that point of order, Sir Eric. Vast sums of money are being voted this evening by the House of Commons. It is particularly important that we should vote them correctly. As I understand, you indicated on a great number of occasions that you thought the Ayes had it, but on very few occasions did you say, "The Ayes have it". I ask you to consider this carefully and to give your Ruling upon it.

The Chairman

In reply to both those points of order, I am quite satisfied that in respect of none of the Votes proposed to the Committee was there any dissent except on two occasions when there was some dissent expressed at one stage and not persisted in. I am perfectly satisfied, also, that I followed the normal and traditional form——

Mr. John Wells

No.

The Chairman

—in declaring on each occasion that the Ayes had it.