§ Mr. William HamiltonOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I pursue with you the point of order which I raised with Mr. Deputy Speaker last night? You will, perhaps, be aware that Mr. Deputy Speaker called two Conservative backbench Members in succession during the Budget debate yesterday, an event which has not happened, in my knowledge, for very many years. Mr. Deputy Speaker subsequently indicated to me that he did this on your instruction, Mr. Speaker, and I wondered on what basis that decision was made.
I have tried to calculate as accurately as I can, and I find that Labour back benchers took 85 minutes of the debate yesterday and Conservative back benchers 145 minutes. Without reflecting on the Chair in any way, I think it incumbent upon the Chair to maintain a balance in the debate, and perhaps it may be in your mind, Mr. Speaker, to have the same kind of balance in favour of this side either today or on Monday.
§ Mr. SpeakerIt is well established that the discretion of the Chair is unfettered and must not be discussed. Whether Mr. Deputy Speaker acted on my instructions is a matter on which I cannot enlighten the hon. Gentleman. These matters must not be discussed. One must bear in mind all the factors, and I promise that the Chair will try to do that.