§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ 11.42 p.m.
§ The Solicitor-General (Sir Geoffrey Howe)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
This is the second time of asking.
§ Mr. Michael Cocks (Bristol, South)On a point of order. May I seek your guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker? As the debate was abbreviated last week because insufficient Members were present, is it in order for the Solicitor-General to speak a second time without the permission of the House?
I appreciate that when the Prime Minister seeks the permission of the House to answer certain Questions together, it is a form of courtesy and he does not require the permission of the House, but I should like to add one or two sentences to what I said on the previous occasion. How may I best expedite this matter?
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. E. L. Mallalieu)There is nothing to stop the hon. Member from saying what he wantsto say.
§ Mr. CocksHaving studied the remarks of the Solicitor-General in the OFFICIAL 521 REPORT, and having given the matter a great deal of consideration, I am seized of the wisdom of what he said. Had he made those remarks some hours earlier when I was not subjected to the normal tedium and fatigue which beset all normal mortals when Government business is brought on at an unseemly hour after opposed Private Business, I might well have felt that the Bill should have had an unopposed Second Reading.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mr. Kenneth Clarke.]
§ Committee tomorrow.