HC Deb 10 February 1988 vol 127 cc366-7 4.10 pm
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Within your hearing at Question Time, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that there would be a business statement after he had completed questions. What we had in mind was a business statement to explain how 60 tonnes of metal fell off a ship in the Mull of Galloway, and that metal was the bow of Trident——

Mr. Speaker

Order. I did not hear the hon. Gentleman ask a question about that during Question Time. I thought that his question had a rather different drift. My recollection is that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that that there would be business questions tomorrow.

Mr. Dalyell

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster might have had in mind some kind of explanation of how an extremely expensive part of the Trident submarine, somehow put on the deck of a Bahamas-registered ship, falls off the deck into the Mull of Galloway. We have it in print, and it has been cross-checked, that the Navy is now staking out the Mull of Galloway in order to try to prevent anybody else, such as the Russians, finding this exceedingly valuable, highly technical, sophisticated part of the Trident submarine.

Should not the House be told how an enormously expensive part of Trident comes to fall off the deck of a ship? Who had the idea and notion of strapping part of Trident to the deck of a ship, despite the gale warnings, which then falls into the sea, at heaven knows what expense—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I am sure that this is an important matter, but it is not a matter of order for me. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman pursues it in a different way. I should have thought that it would make an admirable Adjournment debate.

Dr. Jeremy Bray (Motherwell, South)

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker

It is not a point of order.

Dr. Bray

The steel in question was undoubtedly on its way from my constituency to Barrow and was made by the British Steel Corporation, to which the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster's statement specifically related—

Mr. Speaker

Order. This is an extension of Question Time, for which we have already had a full hour. The hon. Gentleman could have raised this matter on the question on steel, but it should not be pursued now.

Mr. Pat Wall (Bradford, North)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I hope that I am in order to raise a matter in relation to the request made by my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon) about Killingbeck hospital. Four weeks ago in this Chamber I asked the Prime Minister about Killingbeck hospital and I was assured that everything would be fine. In that four weeks, the situation has become worse, and we should have a debate on that issue today.

Mr. Speaker

If the hon. Lady is successful in obtaining such a debate, the hon. Gentleman can join in.

Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will have noticed that, since my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) raised his point of order about the storm last night and the bit of Trident dropping off into the sea, and the fact, about which you were a bit uncertain, that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had said that there would be a business statement today, the Leader of the House has turned up. He obviously thinks that it is business questions today. We know that the Government had a bad shock last night which they have not got over. It is just conceivable that half the Government Treasury Bench thinks that it is Thursday. Will the Leader of the House let us have a statement about the important matter—more important than handing over Hong Kong to the Chinese—referred to by my hon. Friend?

Several Hon. Members

rose— —

Mr. Speaker

Order. I can confirm that it is Wednesday. If we go on like this, we shall be taking today's business into tomorrow.

Mr. Eric S. Helfer (Liverpool, Walton)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am aware that it is Wednesday because in Liverpool today the North-West TUC has called a great demonstration— [HON. MEMBERS: "What is the point of order?"] If hon. Members give me time, I shall come to that.

The North-West TUC has called a great demonstration throughout the north-west, including Liverpool, in relation to the problems of the National Health Service and those who work in it and their effect on the patients of the NHS. Since thousands—I mean thousands—of ordinary people will be demonstrating, and are demonstrating at this moment, in Liverpool, Manchester and elsewhere in the north-west, may we have a debate on the future of the NHS along the lines referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon)?

Mr. Speaker

That is a Standing Order No. 20 application without notice, upon which I need not comment.