§ Mr. SpeakerBusiness of the House. Mrs. Thatcher.
§ Mrs. ThatcherWill the—
§ Mr. Cyril SmithOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In Prime Minister's Questions today, we have not even taken Question No. Q2. May I appeal to you, as a matter of order, to urge the Prime Minister, in answering Questions, not to take eight Questions together and as a consequence prevent even Question No.Q2 from being answered?
§ The Prime MinisterFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry-that, because of the repetitive questions put to me by hon. Members opposite, I could not reach Question No.Q2. The House, as you will recall, has often considered these matters. Some Prime Ministers have aggregated right up to 24 or 25 Questions and sometimes done three or four.
After complaints, which were considered, I made a statement in which I made the suggestion that the aggregation should be automatic up to 10 but not beyond. On this occasion, partly through the withdrawal of Questions at the last minute, a large number of the remainder proved to be really the same Question, and I had to follow the rule which the House has agreed by answering them together. I regret that I was not able to tell the hon. Member that I have no immediate plans to visit Rochdale.