§ Mr. SpeakerLast Thursday the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) raised a point of order questioning the procedure being followed on the Okehampton Bypass (Confirmation of Orders) Bill, which will come before the House tomorrow. The procedure under which the House deals with a Bill to confirm a special procedure order is laid down in section 6 of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedures) Act 1945. In the circumstances of this particular Bill, section 6 provides that the Bill is to proceed directly to its consideration stage followed by Third Reading. I have no power to vary this statutory procedure.
I have looked carefully at the particular point raised by the hon. Member, that, since the orders which the Bill is to confirm were before Parliament in the last Session, a resolution of the House to authorise the carrying over of the Orders from last Session to this one was necessary. I am, however, satisfied that there is nothing in the 1945 Act to prevent the House from proceeding with a Bill to confirm a special procedure order where such an order was before the House in a previous Session.