§ Mr. Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. According to the Order Paper, this is the 12th of 19 allotted Opposition days. Of those 19 days, one has so far been made available to the Liberal party, and it has been made plain to us that that is the only day which the Leader of the Opposition will make available. One half day, Mr. Speaker—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) has as much right to be heard in the House as every other hon. Member. I should be grateful if those hon. Members who surround him would allow him to be heard.
§ Mr. BeithThank you, Mr. Speaker.
Of those 19 days, half a day has been allocated to the Ulster Unionist party.
Those figures do not in any way represent the balance of numbers of Members in the House among the Opposition parties, let alone their support outside it. What can you do, Mr. Speaker, to safeguard or guarantee the rights of the various groups within the House? You have just been appealed to, quite properly and understandably, by a group of Labour Members who wish to debate an issue which their leader has not seen fit to raise. I appeal to you on behalf of another group of hon. Members, widely supported in the country, who seek a fair division of the time which, in the Standing Orders of the House, is labelled not "Labour time" but "Opposition time".
I also ask you to rule, Mr. Speaker, on a more technical point. Today was announced last week as a half Supply day, the second half of the day being allocated to a discussion of Europe in Government time, but it now appears on the Order Paper as a whole Supply day. Could the Leader of the House, or even the Leader of the Opposition, explain whether the second half of the day will be taken in Government or Opposition time? Have the Opposition made half a Supply day available for a debate on Europe, which was originally to have taken place in Government time? Could the Leader of the House perhaps be given an opportunity to clarify the position, and tell us whether at some stage he will be doing a trade-off with the Leader of the Opposition over the half day, so that we can debate some other subject, or whether he will take the opportunity to put down a motion giving proper rights to the various groups represented in the House?
Is there any way, Mr. Speaker, in which you can ensure that there is further consideration of the present completely wrong balance of time between the Opposition parties, and can you give the Leader of the House the opportunity to clarify what is happening today?
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerNo——
§ Mr. SkinnerIt is the same point.
§ Mr. SpeakerWe have an Opposition day—I do not know whether it be a day or a half day—and a great many right hon. and hon. Members are seeking to take part. Points of order will only use up time.
§ Sir Kenneth Lewis (Stamford and Spalding)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I hope that you appreciate, 818 Sir, that the House as a whole supports you in making your decision on this matter. If the Opposition cannot make up their mind between the wishes of some Back Benchers and the reluctance of the Front Bench to have a debate, that is not a matter for the House of Commons as a whole.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. We have dealt with that matter and are discussing a different point now.
§ Mr. SkinnerOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. It will not have escaped your notice, especially since you have a copy of the Standing Orders before you, that this matter has been settled democratically — [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"]—by Members of the House. I always had the impression, but no more than that, that the Liberals were all about ballots. There has been a ballot on this issue, Mr. Speaker, and you are now saddled with carrying out the result of the ballot.
However, I wish you to consider another point before you come to a conclusion on the point made by the Liberal Chief Whip. Most hon. Members know that there is an inner rift between one section of the alliance — the Liberals—and the SDP. When we have dismantled the cold language that surrounded the Liberal Chief Whip's appeal to you, I suggest that what we find is this: that the Liberals have 17 Members of Parliament, and the Social Democrats have only six, and that although the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) did not dare say it in the Chamber for fear of offending his Social Democratic friends, this matter is all about the Liberals trying to get a bigger share of the time of the House.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman and the House will not expect me to comment——
§ Mr. David Penhaligon (Truro)On a point of order Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, I think we have had enough of this.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I do not think that the House wishes to become involved in a debate on the rift — [Laughter.] —the alleged rift—between any groups in the House. I shall rule on the matter put to me by the Liberal Chief Whip. As the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) has correctly stated, I am bound by Standing Order No. 6 and I have no authority to change it. If the House wishes to change the Standing Orders, I shall of course be bound by the change. Can the Leader of the House assist us in any way?
§ The Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Biffen)I can confirm, Mr. Speaker, that we are proceeding under Standing Order No. 6.
§ Mr. SpeakerTen-minute Bill, Mr. Chope.
§ Mr. PenhaligonOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I seek your guidance on a much more serious aspect of this matter than the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) would have us believe. One concept of Opposition Supply days is that they give the House an opportunity to discuss matters which the Government would not wish to discuss that week. The fact that the Labour party has now been wiped out in great swathes of the country means that important minorities have no opportunity to have their grievances brought before the House. For example, we have no opportunity to discuss agriculture on the Floor of 819 the House other than in Government time, and clearly the Government do not wish to discuss the incredible agreement on milk that they have just made in Europe. Yet there is no opportunity for Opposition Members who represent rural areas to raise this matter in the House. This is a much more important matter than, in some ways, the House would have us believe. Opposition Supply days are denying an important section of the community a chance to express——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman is putting a point that I cannot answer. I am bound by the Standing Order, as has been confirmed by the Leader of the House. As to the hon. Gentleman's comment on the agreement made in Europe, there will be an opportunity to discuss that later today.
§ Mr. David Steel (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I make a helpful suggestion? You have rightly referred to Standing Order No. 6(2), which was drafted by the House and approved by it after consideration by the Select Committee on Procedure in a previous Parliament. Since that Select Committee has been set up again, would it not be for the convenience of the House for the Committee to have a fresh look at the Standing Order in the light of the present composition of the House?
§ Mr. SpeakerI should think that that is a wise suggestion.