Points of Order (Hansard, 13 November 1985)

Several Hon. Members
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I will take only points of order concerned with Scottish Question Time.

§ Mr. James Hamilton (Motherwell, North)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. We reached question No. 4, which was identical to my question No. 26. Has the practice of linking questions ceased? Furthermore, are not Members who take the trouble to put questions on the Order Paper at a grave disadvantage when Tory Members are called as many as three times and we are not even noticed?

§ Mr. Speaker
I am very conscious of what the hon. Gentleman has said. He is quite right—I do my utmost to link questions, but I cannot do it on every occasion. If the hon. Gentleman studies the Order Paper—I am very conscious of this—he will see that only five hon. Members who had put down questions were not called. Moreover, if the hon. Gentleman studies Hansard I think that he will find that Opposition Members were called many more times than Conservative Back Benchers.

§ Mr. Donald Stewart (Western Isles)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I will take points of order about yesterday later, at the usual point in our proceedings.

§ Mr. John Ryman (Blyth Valley)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker—

§ Mr. Speaker
I think that the same goes for the hon. Member for Blyth Valley (Mr. Ryman), who has given me notice of his point of order.

§ Mr. Ryman
My point of order relates to the statement expected shortly.

§ Mr. Speaker
I will certainly not take that now.

§ Mr. Nicholas Fairbairn (Perth and Kinross)
On a point of order arising out of Scottish questions, Mr. Speaker. In relation to question No. 39, the hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) made an implicit criticism of a member of the Scottish judiciary in claiming that his sentence and judgment were inappropriate. Is it not a habit of this House that no criticism of the judiciary may be made?

§ Mr. Speaker
As I understand it, the hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) was criticising the sentence and not the judge.

§ Mr. Donald Stewart
On a point of order in connection with the private notice question that is about to be raised—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I cannot anticipate what the answer to that will be.