QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS (Hansard, 12 February 1970)

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
On a point of order. I wanted to bring this to your notice Mr. Speaker, that there are many of us who sit on the back benches of this House while the Prime Minister is spending more and more of his time at Question Time—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not waste the time of the House by repeating the same point of order that has been raised three times already. A Minister has the right to answer questions in the way that he chooses. Mr. Speaker has no right to interfere.

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
With respect, I would not, of course, seek to raise with you a point of order that has already been dealt with. My point of order is that if the Prime Minister is to take up large portions of his part of Question Time in questioning my right hon. Friend the Member for Bexley (Mr. Heath) it is increasingly difficult for those of us who wish to put questions to the head of the Government on behalf of our constituents. It is very difficult for us to do our duty to this House and our constituents.
Therefore, I would put this very simple matter to you. If the Prime Minister feels compelled to put so many questions to the Leader of the Opposition would it not be more sensible if he changed places now?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I was interested in the last part of that point of order. The earlier part was put more succinctly and more dramatically by the hon. Member's hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Knutsford (Sir W. Bromley-Davenport).

Several Hon. Members rose
—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. In the free-est of all Parliaments only one point of order can be put by one hon. Member at once.

§ Mr. Heffer
On a point of order. I think that this is a very serious point of 1453 order. During the exchanges in Question Time the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Mr. Tilney), who is a very reasonable man—[Interruption.]—I am being very serious about this—said that he believed that in certain parts of Liverpool people were now afraid to go out of their homes at night. I am sure that the hon. Member must feel that he has exaggerated the situation. I also noticed, during Question Time, that my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Ogden) refuted this point and the hon. Member nodded.
I would like to ask whether the hon. Member will now withdraw that statement, in view of its exaggerated nature, and the fact that it can do a great deal of damage to old people in Liverpool who could be afraid to go out, because of such an irresponsible statement.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. In the days when I was a free man I defended my constituency, but not under the guise of a point of order. That was not a point of order.

§ Mr. Tom Boardman
Further to that point of order—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. It cannot be further to a point of order which I have ruled is not a point of order. If the hon. Gentleman wants to raise a point of order it must be a real one.

§ Mr. Tom Boardman
On a point of order. While accepting your Ruling that a Minister may answer a Question in whatever way he wishes, does the same thing apply when he makes no attempt to answer the question and clearly has no intention of doing so?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. That is less of a point of order than those raised by the hon. and gallant Member for Knutsford (Sir W. Bromley-Davenport).

§ Sir Harmar Nicholls rose
—

Hon. Members
Oh.

§ Sir Harmar Nicholls
I understood that you called me to put a supplementary question on the Prime Minister's Question No. 4, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member has a good memory. He is right. Sir Harmar Nicholls.

§ Sir Harmar Nicholls
Apart from the Prime Minister's running away from the question in making comparisons with what may or may not have happened in the past, have not the employment figures got to such a pitch that the Minister responsible ought to be confined to dealing with that and not spend her efforts in other directions?

§ The Prime Minister
In the Answer I gave to my hon. Friend I said that the best guarantee of full employment in future is to concentrate on productivity, which is what my right hon. Friend is doing.
With regard to my feelings about the level of unemployment, which has been maintained as a result of the measures we have had to take, I have said that our balance of payments surplus now provides a better springboard for growth than we have had during the last 15 years, when there has been an almost continuous deficit, started by the party opposite.