HC Deb 17 July 1978 vol 954 cc46-7
Mr. Ioan Evans

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow night, or early on Wednesday morning, we shall be debating the timetable motion on the Wales Bill. This motion has not been placed on today's Order Paper. We shall be debating 198 Lords amendments. I do not know whether discussions have taken place between the Front Benches, but some Back Benchers have heard that Divisions will take place at certain times yet do not know which amendments will be taken at such times. Could you possibly help us, Mr. Speaker, in order to prepare ourselves for the debates which will take place up until midnight on Wednesday and on Thursday evening?

Mr. Pym

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I proposed to raise this matter with you at a later stage. What the hon. Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans) says is quite true. I do not think that the motion for tomorrow night is yet in the Table Office. There is, of course, no absolute obligation on the Government to do that, and presumably it will be on the Order Paper tomorrow. But the circumstances are that up until about midnight tonight and tomorrow we shall debate amendments to the Scotland Bill, and then go immediately to the Wales Bill. That means that some of us will have very little time available between now and Wednesday afternoon to comprehend what the Government propose to do in relation to Wales. Therefore, the House is placed in real difficulty in so far as at this stage we do not know how that timetable motion is to be designed. It may well be that some hon. Members may wish to table amendments. That is extraordinarily difficult in the particular circumstances of this week, because we do not yet know the terms of the motion. I do not know whether the Government can put this right, but it is a difficulty in which the House finds itself.

Mr. Speaker

As the right hon. Member for Cambridgeshire (Mr. Pym) and the hon. Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans) will understand, I am afraid that I cannot help the House. But I shall certainly look into the matter, because I think that the interests of hon. Members are concerned.

Mr. Ioan Evans

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. If we do not know the contents of the motion today, and if we shall not know until tomorrow what the contents will be, what will be the possibility of Back Benchers tabling an amendment to it if they so desire?

Mr. Speaker

If there are genuine amendments to the motion when it is tabled, I shall look at them as manuscript amendments, because I do not believe that the House should be robbed of an opportunity of tabling amendments—[HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear."]—I am not encouraging amendments. All I am saying is that I shall certainly look at this matter, because I believe that the House must guard its own rights in matters of this sort.