Points of Order (Hansard, 21 May 1990)

§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson (Calder Valley)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
One at a time, please. I call Mr. Thompson first.

§ Mr. Thompson
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, of which I have given you notice. As you will know, tomorrow we are to discuss the community charge. A recent poll in my local newspaper has stated that most of my constituents are in favour of community charge capping. However, as there will be some legal action about community charge capping in either the near future or the far distant future, will we be in order if we discuss all aspects of the community charge tomorrow if we manage to catch your eye?

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Gentleman gave me notice of that question and I can give him the answer. The motion has not yet been tabled, and until I have seen it I cannot consider the scope of the debate or whether it would be appropriate for me to exercise my discretion with regard to the sub judice rule.

§ Mr. Thompson
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Are you saying that the leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats has not yet tabled the motion?

§ Mr. Speaker
That is exactly what I said.

§ Mr. Frank Dobson (Holborn and St. Pancras)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Has the Secretary of State for Energy given you notice that he intends to come to the House to make a statement about the future of the coal industry? If reports from the British Coal Corporation are to be believed, we are threatened with the extinction of the coal industry in Scotland, the north-east and Wales and with savage cuts in the coal industry in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. The Secretary of State for Energy has apparently been appointed to take charge of co-ordinating Government publicity, but we should like him to come to the House to tell us what he is doing to co-ordinate the Government's energy policy.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. No, I have not had any request for a statement on that matter, which I understand arose because of a leak in one of the newspapers.

§ Mr. Dalyell
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I ask a question about the consistency of the use of parliamentary language? You, Mr. Speaker, are rightly quick to complain when hon. Members attack Members of the other place. Is it in order for the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Gow) to refer to the Bishop of Oxford as "mischievous"? Is that parliamentarily acceptable?

§ Mr. Speaker
I understand that the Bishop of Oxford not at present a member of the House of Lords, although he may become one in due course.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)
Further to the point of order of the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Mr. Thompson). First—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order.

§ Mr. Hughes
First, in accordance with normal procedure, tomorrow's motion will be tabled early this evening in the Table Office. That is often done on Opposition days by members of all parties. It will he available for the hon. Member for Calder Valley and others to view there, and it will give ample opportunity for the hon. Gentleman and others to criticise the community charge as a whole, as well as specific details of it.

§ Mr. Speaker
I thank the hon. Gentleman. It is for the convenience of the House if motions are tabled as early as possible, as it gives the entire House the opportunity to consider the motions on the Order Paper.

§ Mr. Dave Nellist (Coventry, South-East)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if you were given notice by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs that he would like to take time this afternoon to make a statement about the appalling events that have occurred in the past few hours in Israel and the occupied territories? Not only were seven unarmed Palestinian labourers shot, but now the Israeli defence force has put 1 million Palestinians under curfew in the Gaza strip and on the West Bank.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I have not had such a request.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I ask Opposition Members who are rising to remember that there is a great demand to take part in today's Opposition day debate, especially from Scottish Members who wish to refer to Ravenscraig. The hon. Gentleman may finish his point of order, but it is not a matter for me.

§ Mr. Nellist
I accept that, Mr. Speaker, and I shall be brief.
Many hon. Members, perhaps on both sides of the House, would have wanted to make representations through the Foreign Secretary on how it is possible that, according to the IDF, one in a thousand people in the Gaza strip were wounded last night and this morning. That is 622 people out of a population of 650,000. That is horrific.

§ Mr. Speaker
It is indeed a very serious matter, but I have received no request for a statement.

§ Mr. Alan Williams (Swansea, West)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. This is a point of order that is directly for you, Mr. Speaker, related to the tabling of questions, on which hon. Members need advice, and it follows points that have already been made. I understand that the Secretary of State for Energy has been given an additional responsibility relating to the co-ordination of Government publicity. That is clearly outside his remit within that Department, and outside the work of the Department. What opportunity is there for hon. Members to table questions to him about his carrying out of that function?

§ Mr. Speaker
I am not certain that co-ordination of policy is a matter that is normally raised in the House. The 23 hon. Gentleman's colleague on the Front Bench—the hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham)—also co-ordinates policy.

§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Arising from question No. 73, you will have heard the Leader of the House announce that the Select Committe on Members' Interests has carried out an inquiry into the conflict of interests in the case of the hon. Member for Hampshire, East (Mr. Mates) between his interests as Chairman of the Select Committee on Defence and his commercial interests. That information has never been revealed by our Committee. The statement of the Leader of the House was a clear breach of privilege, as he has no right to make it. It has been the Committee's aim to retain as much secrecy as possible on those matters; the right hon. and learned Gentleman did precisely what the Committee has been trying to avoid for the past month.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am afraid that I did not quite get the thrust of that point of order—[Interruption.] I think that it is fairly common knowledge that that Select Committee is examining those matters.