COAL INDUSTRY BILL (Hansard, 25 February 1971)

§ Mr. Michael Foot (Ebbw Vale)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Before my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Varley) moves Amendment No. 2—the first one you have selected—I wonder whether I might put to you a point about the selection of Amendments. I understand, of course, that it is not open to any hon. Member to question the selections which you make of the Amendments on Report, but I want to put one or two considerations which I hope you will take into account in the future course of our debates today and perhaps in future selections on a Bill of this nature. I am not seeking in any sense to question your ruling because I understand that that would be improper. I hope you will not regard it as impertinent on my part if I say that many of us regard the selection which has been made as being perhaps astringent in the sense that many Amendments which some of us had, mistakenly, thought would have been called are not to be called.
I want to put to you a point which perhaps may not have been put to you with sufficient force, and I raise it now precisely for that reason. It refers to a matter which was mentioned only a few minutes ago in the House. On all previous occasions, the Committee stages of coal industry Bills have been taken on the Floor of the House. Those of us who come from mining constituencies have always represented to the Government of the day that this convention should be continued. We were therefore aggrieved, if that is not too self-pitying a word to use, to find that that course was not taken on this occasion but that the Bill was referred to a Committee upstairs.
It seems that many of my hon. Friends representing mining constituencies who have tabled Amendments on Report may be deprived of their right to press them. My hon. Friend the Member for Bedwellty (Mr. Kinnock) and several other of my hon. Friends who were denied the right to participate in the discussion in 860 Committee because of the change in practice introduced by the Government will be deprived of the opportunity to press their Amendments.
4.0 p.m.
I think that this matter should be considered. A list of Amendments selected is convenient to the House, but I understand that alterations can be made in the list if Mr. Speaker believes it to be necessary. The question of whether a Bill should be taken on the Floor of the House must affect the selection of Amendments for the Report stage. Those of us who represent mining constituencies think that this is a matter of great importance.
I could refer to Amendments tabled by my hon. Friends who were denied the right to serve on the Committee which are quite different in form from those discussed in Committee and which have not been selected. On one Bill after another, although convention dictated that the Committee stage should be taken on the Floor of the House, the Government have decided that it should be taken upstairs. I hope that you, Mr. Speaker, will protect our rights and ensure that the selection of Amendments for the Report stage does not add to our grievance and deprives us of opportunities which have hitherto been available to every Member representing mining constituencies.
With very minor exceptions, all the Members who represent mining constituences sit on this side of the House.

§ Sir Gerald Nabarro (Worcestershire, South)
No.

§ Mr. Foot
Therefore, if there is a severe selection of Amendments in Committee in addition to an arbitrary decision by the Government to take a Bill upstairs instead of on the Floor of the House, Members who are sent here to speak for miners are deprived of their rights.
I hope that you will take my representation into account, Mr. Speaker, because some of us are not prepared to see the situation where representatives from mining constituencies—[Interruption.] There are courses open to Members who think that the business of the House should be ordered differently; hon. Members must understand that. In this instance, several of my hon. Friends 861 from mining constituencies who tabled Amendments which were not discussed in Committee have been denied by the selection of Amendments the right to move them. I am not criticising your selection, Mr. Speaker, but I hope that you will take into account what I have said.

§ Sir G. Nabarro
Further to that point of order. May I put to you a true consideration, Mr. Speaker? We had 13 very long sittings in Committee. I have not added up the aggregate number of hours which we spent considering the Bill in Committee, but it was a very long Committee stage.
Will you, in particular, Mr. Speaker, take into account the inaccurate statement of the hon. Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Michael Foot) that all mining constituencies are held by Labour Members, except for one or two minor exceptions? As always, the hon. Gentleman is grossly inaccurate. For example, will you bear in mind, Mr. Speaker, that my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock (Mr. Cormack) represents a very important mining constituency? [HON. MEMBERS: "Where is he?"] My hon. Friend who represents Cannock—[An HON. MEMBER: "That is a temporary aberration."] No, it is not. The electors of Cannock hurled out the former incumbent of the seat and put in my hon. Friend. It was the biggest turnover of votes in the country.
Will you also bear in mind, Mr. Speaker, that my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Dover (Mr. Peter Rees) represents several thousand coal miners? [HON. MEMBERS: "Where is he?"] Many other Conservative Members have important coal production and mining interests in their constituencies. In any event, Mr. Speaker, will you please bear in mind the major consideration that there are millions of consumers of coal who are desperately afflicted by the exorbitant price of solid fuel?

§ Mr. Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Ardwick)
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
I must deal with the point raised by the hon. Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Michael Foot). I am being given a certain amount of assistance; I am not sure that I need it.
The hon. Member for Ebbw Vale has made a serious point. Selecting Amendments 862 is one of the most difficult jobs which the Chair has to do. This is the first time that I have had to do it. I looked carefully at the list of Amendments and tried to take into account all the various factors to ensure that there is a series of wide-ranging debates. I am told that I have been rather more generous in my selection than has usually been the case in the past. The list of selected Amendments is provisional. Let us proceed as I have suggested.