§ Mr. Hugh JenkinsOn a point of order. Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me an opportunity briefly to raise a point of order.
Last night, during the Division on the Closure, four hon. Members were in the Lobby my hon. Friends the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Roderick), the Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Booth), the Member for Bedwellty (Mr. Kinnock) and the Member for Putney. The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnor was the unofficial "sweeper" and when he came to "sweep out", neither the Tellers nor the Clerks were present, and, therefore, the votes of those four Members were not counted and when they came back into the Chamber, Mr. Speaker was announcing the result of the Division.
My object in raising a point of order is not to allocate blame in the matter. It was no fault of the hon. Members concerned, but whose fault it was does not matter. However, it was a mistake and I should like our votes to be properly recorded in the OFFICIAL REPORT to show that we were there and voted, although we were not counted.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am grateful to the hon. Member for giving me notice that he intended to raise this point of order. I will direct that his name and those of the other three hon. Members he mentioned shall be added to the official Division List as requested. 546 It seems that the mistake arose because the Tellers left their posts before I gave the order, "Lock the doors". I draw the attention of all Tellers to the words of a notice posted near the exit of both Division Lobbies:
Tellers and clerks should not leave their places until after the Lobbies have been locked and all Members then within the Lobbies who wish to record their votes have been enabled to do so.