HC Deb 03 May 1966 vol 727 cc1429-30
The Chairman

Before I call the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it will be for the convenience of the Committee if I intimate that I propose to follow the precedent set by my predecessor last year. It used to be the practice for the Budget Resolutions to be circulated before the Chancellor had finished speaking. The resulting noise and disturbance often used to disrupt the end of his speech. I have accordingly arranged this year, as last year, that the process of handing round copies of the Resolutions shall not begin until the Chancellor has completed his speech. There will then be a short pause while the copies are being handed round. As soon as I judge that this process has been completed, I shall call the Chancellor of the Exchequer to move the first Resolution. Then we shall follow the usual practice laid down in Standing Order 90. I hope that this will commend itself to the Committee.

3.34 p.m.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. James Callaghan)

As this is the first time in this Parliament that we have resolved ourselves into a Committee of Ways and Means, I am sure that it would be in accordance with the wishes of the whole Committee for me to congratulate you, Sir Eric, on your appointment as our Chairman. There is little doubt that you will come to know that Chair very well during the long-drawn-out successive stages of succeeding Finance Bills. In passing, let me say that the gentle zephyr of change that you have announced this afternoon will, I trust, reach even further into our financial procedures.

Something was begun on those lines in the last Parliament. We have just received a series of recommendations from the Select Committee on Procedure. I am sure they will agree with me when I say that their recommendations, although useful, were not of an epoch-making or major character. They have left behind them plenty of material still to quarry before we can say that our financial procedures in the House of Commons are rational or, some of us would claim, even comprehensible. I would very much welcome further examination of these procedures and will be very ready to encourage a rigorous scrutiny of the way we do our financial business.