HC Deb 10 February 1976 vol 905 cc234-6
Mr. Tebbit

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The House will have noted and approved your determination to ensure that supplementary questions are both brief and relevant to the main Question. Can we from the Back Benches now seek your support to ensure that ministerial answers are also brief and relevant to supplementary questions, so that we have fairness all round?

Mr. Speaker

I can tell the House and hon. Members who have not been present that I have made such an appeal to both Front Benches twice in the past two days.

Mr. Cryer

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. There are grave difficulties in requiring the Prime Minister to answer Questions. In a system which is very similar in many respects to the presidential system—the Prime Minister wields great power—it is important that Back Benchers should have the right to ask questions. If you require Back Benchers to restrict their supplementary questions and relate them to the original Question, that will cut out a great deal of subject matter. As all Back Benchers know, if a specific point has any shadow of ministerial responsibility in any other Department the Question is transferred. Therefore, the opportunities for questioning the Prime Minister will be severely limited unless the past practice of allowing supplementary questions of a specific nature related to the general Question is followed.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member for Keighley (Mr. Cryer) is not correct. I have been a Member of the House for three decades, and it is only in recent years that the custom has grown up for hon. Members to put up any coat hook on which to hang any coat they may happen to possess. The House managed exceedingly well in years past in getting Questions to the Prime Minister on subjects which hon. Members wanted answered. I am not talking about the quality of answers or questions, but if we are to have order in the House we must limit supplementary questions to the Question on the Order Paper.

Mr. Evelyn King

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I entirely accept what you say. In the past—and my memory is very vivid on this subject—Prime Ministers were far more generous in allowing Questions to be put to them. Recent Prime Ministers, particularly the present Prime Minister, have so narrowly restricted Questions that virtually all that hon. Members are allowed to ask is whether, for example, he will visit Dundee.

Mr. Speaker

I have only survived in this place by never passing a comment on Prime Ministers.

Mr. Buchan

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. My constituency has been referred to on five occasions today, and with one exception every comment was totally inaccurate. On every occasion I endeavoured to intervene, but I was not called. I hope that when criticisms and attacks are made on an hon. Member's constituency—in this case, Chrysler at Linwood—some attempt at balance can be made. The strike was called because of the stupidity of management towards a work force which had been devoid of industrial disputes for three years. If the hon. Member representing the constituency is not called in such instances, the truth may not emerge.

Mr. Speaker

I do my best to be fair to every constituency interest, and I shall be under considerable pressure in the major business of the day, when very many constituency interests will not be dealt with. The time for that debate is being further reduced by the time we are taking now. I saw the hon. Member rise only twice. I am sorry I missed him. I shall try to do better in future.