§ Mr. Alan WilliamsOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I direct attention to a point which will, I think, cause increasing irritation to back-bench members unless some action is taken fairly rapidly. I have given you, Mr. Speaker, prior notice of the point.
I have two Questions on today's Order Paper—Nos. 26 and 42. They were tabled at the same time and I wrote on them which was to be first and which was to be second. I also made the point when I spoke to the Clerk in the Table Office. They appear on the Order Paper in the reverse order so that the Question which I regarded as being of greater importance has not been reached.
May I, on behalf of back-bench Members, ask you, Mr. Speaker, to check with the Table Office to see whether a less fallible system of indicating priority in Questions can be established?
§ Mr. SpeakerI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice that he would raise this point. He is perfectly correct. His two Questions should have been printed in the opposite order. The mistake arose in the course of the final grouping of Questions on the Order Paper which, since the Resolution of the House on 7th April, has become quite a complicated process. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. The reasons why it happened are being carefully studied, and we hope that it will not happen again.
§ Mr. LoughlinOn a point of order. May I ask, with great respect, why the point of order was taken prior to 3.30?
§ Mr. SpeakerIt is for me to judge the time.