§ The Chairman of Ways and Means (Mr. Harold Walker)With permission, I would like to make a personal statement.
I understand that, following an interview which I gave this morning to Radio Sheffield, concern has been expressed that some of my comments were inconsistent with the political impartiality traditionally observed by the Deputy Speaker.
I hope that the House will appreciate the difficulty of my position as a Member in a constituency which is in the centre of the current national controversy over coal closures; inevitably, there are occasions on which it is impossible for me to keep silent as, in my capacity as a Deputy Speaker, I would wish to do.
I can, of course, give the House a categorical assurance that in no circumstances would I allow any such feelings to influence my conduct in the Chair of this House, or diminish in any way the high standards of impartiality traditionally observed by my predecessors in the Chair.