§
Ordered,
That, at the sitting on Monday 17th April, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No. 15 (Prayers against statutory instruments, etc. (negative procedure)), Motions in the name of Mr. Neil Kinnock relating to Education may be
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proceeded with, though opposed, for one and a half hours after the first of them has been entered upon; and if proceedings thereon have not been previously disposed of, Mr. Speaker shall then put the Question already proposed from the Chair.—[Mr. Alan Howarth.]
§ Mr. Alan Meale (Mansfield)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was asked to give a date for the Second Reading of my Bill——
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman gave me a date which was 21 April, and that has been recorded.
§ Ms. Mildred Gordon (Bow and Poplar)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The Counting Women's Unremunerated Work Bill was presented behind the Chair and, therefore, has been printed. Does that not count?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerThere has to be a printed text of the Bill before I am able to put the Question.
§ Ms. GordonFurther to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It was presented as a Bill behind the Chair in the previous Session.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerThe previous Session does not count. There must be a printed text of the Bill in this Session, and my understanding is that there is not one. Therefore, I am not able to put the Question.
§ Mr. CorbynOn a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Can you tell me the position on the Poll Tax (Restoration of Individual Privacy) Bill, which is before us today?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIf a day is named for the Second Reading of any Bill that has been deferred today, the Bill will appear on the Order Paper for that day. That does not necessarily mean that it will he reached. I understand that the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) did not name a day for Second Reading, but he can do so by giving an instruction to the Table Office.
§ Mr. CorbynFurther to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. My question related partly to that and partly to the present status of the Bill. Has the Bill passed its Second Reading and Committee stages so that when it returns it will be for its Report stage, or was it blocked by the Trappists on the Conservative Benches?
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerI realise that this is a complicated matter, so I shall expand a little on the procedure. Let me read from the report of the Select Committee on Procedure which explained this point. Paragraph 70 states:
When the titles of private Members' Bills are read over … on a Friday, instead of rising to speak or to object, it is open to Members to remain seated but to give their voices as `No' when the question is put.
§ Mr. CohenFurther to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That is not what happened. No Conservative Member said anything. Therefore, the Bill——
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWhat I read out is exactly what happened.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder: I am on my feet. I realise the hon. Gentleman's frustration. We have been following a well-established procedure. It applies to Government orders on occasions and to private Bills on other occasions. At the moment, the hon. Members who are raising points of order have not managed to persuade the Procedure Committee or the House that the procedure 1227 should be changed. It is my job in the Chair to ensure that our present rules and regulations are observed. That is what I have been doing this afternoon.
§ Mr. CohenFurther to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. What arrangements will you make to rewrite "Erskine May" on this issue, because you have changed the rules in your ruling today? The Bill received——
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. I have made no changes in the rules. It is open to the hon. Gentleman, if he so wishes, to put the matter to the Procedure Committee.