Business of the House (Hansard, 7 April 1982)

§ Mr. A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed)
I refer briefly to the motion to place on record my concern—which I believe is shared by other hon. Members—about the arrangements made for the business later today. I understand that the purpose of the business motion is to enable the House to proceed, after the Falkland Islands debate, to a debate on the British Transport Docks Bill, which will begin at 11 pm and may continue until 2 am. In the Business Statement on Monday, a different Leader of the House from the present one said: The business on Wednesday 7 April will now be a debate on the Falkland Islands, on a motion for the Adjournment of the House."—[Official Report, 5 April 1982; Vol. 21, c. 691.] He came to a full stop and that was the end of his statement. At the time, most hon. Members assumed that there would be no other business that day and that private business would not be taken.
It is open to the Chairman of Ways and Means to interrupt the debate on the Falkland Islands at 7 pm to take private business, but I am sure that he would not wish to do that. Indeed, the House would find it difficult to understand why such a Bill should interrupt the proceedings. However, the course chosen could have been avoided and I hope that it will be borne in mind that it would be more reasonable for the British Transport Docks Bill to be considered at a suitable time after the Easter Recess instead of at 11 pm tonight.
I have no personal interest in the Bill. The main concern relates to the constituency of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the right hon. Member for Lowestoft (Mr. Prior) Knowing of his genuine concern about the issue, several hon. Members—at the request of his constituents—have taken it upon themselves to become interested in the provisions affecting the fishing industry. As I think the Chairman of Ways and Means and other hon. Members know, one of those hon. Members is in hospital. Various circumstances have been drawn to the attention of the authorities and they may provide a sufficient basis for deferring the Bill until the week after Easter.
I cannot understand why the promoters of the Bill should have insisted on a debate on the Bill today when it could easily have been deferred. I still ask that that deferral should take place.

§ Mr. Speaker
The House knows that I cannot alter the Order Paper, but the hon. Gentleman has registered his point.

§ Mr. Christopher Price (Lewisham, West)
I understand that the motion is debatable.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Gentleman is quite correct. The motion is debatable. As he knows, the House is anxious to move on to other business, but he is within his rights to speak.

§ Mr. Price
Given the remarks made by the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), I should have thought that at the very least the new Leader of the House should respond. It has always been a custom of the House that, if the Government have to change the business because of some national emergency, they will not try to cheat by piling on business halfway through the night. It is perfectly possible to postpone until after Easter the business that is now set down for discussion after 11 pm. We are at least owed an explanation why the Leader of the House feels unable to do that.

§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Biffen)
I perfectly understand the disappointment felt by the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) about the present arrangements, but the Chairman of Ways and Means had set down opposed private business for today, 7 April. Originally that private business would have been taken at 7 pm, after the conclusion of the original Government business. With the change of business to the Falkland Islands debate, we had to consider whether to allow business to be interrupted at 7 pm for opposed private business. That would have been wholly out of keeping with the importance of today's parliamentary occasion.
I realise that it is inconvenient to take the private business at 11 pm, but the situation is not without precedent. There are certain parliamentary occasions when such things have to happen.