§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed.
§ That the Bill be now read a Second time.
§ Mr. SpeakerBefore I call the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Mr. John), I want to remind the House of what I said at the end of the debate in February on the Consolidated Fund Bill:
Out of 28 topics originally on my list, only eight were discussed in nearly 17 hours. According to my calculations … apart from Ministerial speeches, there were four speeches of over 40 minutes each, six of over 30 minutes each, and nine of over 20 minutes each."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 15th February, 1971; Vol. 811, c. 1541.]I said then that the House should draw its own conclusions from those figures.Before we tackle this hard day's night, I would point out that there are 29 topics which have been ballotted for. I would ask right hon. and hon. Members to be considerate of other hon. Members who wish to make speeches and to confine their speeches to a reasonably short length.