§ Mr. Quentin Davies (Stamford and Spalding)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I do not know whether you have yet received any representations on your new regulation that hon. Members must wear passes when they are in the House. No one, I am sure, would wish to quibble with any regulation which you might deem necessary for the duration of the emergency, but a number of us have considerable reservations about this as a long-term security measure and believe that it might even be counter-productive. May I, therefore, express the hope that there is no unexpressed intention that the new regulation should be perpetuated after the emergency, and that, if there were such an intention, we would have a full opportunity to debate the matter?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe wearing of passes in the precincts has been introduced, on advice, in connection with the current situation. Any decision to continue the practice indefinitely would be a matter for further consideration.
§ Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Have you had any intimation from the Home Secretary of a desire to come to the House to make a statement concerning a substantial number of people of Iraqi and Palestinian background, who have been taken into custody under immigration regulations in the past few days, despite the fact that the Home Secretary gave an undertaking last week that internment would not be introduced? This is an important matter, and I hope that the Home Secretary will come to the House to report on it.
§ Mr. SpeakerI have had no such intimation. What the hon. Member said will have been heard by the Patronage Secretary on the Front Bench.
§ Mr. Ron Brown (Edinburgh, Leith)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can you waive formalities to ensure that a delegation from the Iraqi National Assembly may visit this place? It wants to send members here to meet us. [Interruption.] Even in this period, when we are at war, it makes sense if we speak about peace and about negotiation rather than confrontation. It makes sense to the people outside and to the people that I represent; perhaps it does not make sense on the Government Benches. Clearly something has to be done, hopefully, to resolve the horrible conflict. The National Assembly of Iraq has a political and moral right to send members here to speak to us. [Interruption.] I am willing to listen to them, even if that lot are not.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am afraid that that is not one of my many responsibilities. I have no power to waive any formalities in that regard.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylor (Southend, East)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Have you noticed from the Order Paper that one and a half hours are permitted for the discussion of motion No. 3, a highly complex matter, and also for motion No. 4, which is equally complex? Can you clarify for the House whether the effect will be that, if we do not complete the discussion of motion No. 3 and its amendments in one and a half hours, there will be no discussion of motion No. 4?
§ Mr. SpeakerWhat I can say to the hon. Member relates to points of order. The quicker we get to the Export and Investment Guarantees Bill and complete it—exceptionally, there is not a great demand to take part in that debate—the quicker we can get on to the motions which the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. It will last one and a half hours, or until 11.30 pm if we get to that business before 10 o'clock.
§ Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Port Glasgow)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. With reference to the letter which you sent to each of us yesterday—the contents of which I agree with and which I thought were eminently sensible—are you satisfied with the security arrangements concerning the well-being of the staff of the House of Commons, as well as the more vocal Members?
§ Mr. Speaker"Satisfied", I think, would be a large claim to make, but I hope that we have taken adequate measures which will ensure the safety of not only the staff but hon. Members.
§ Mr. Derek Conway (Shrewsbury and Atcham)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The staff of the Admission Order Office, the Serjeant at Arms and his staff and the Chair are very helpful in enabling those constituents who have travelled far and have waited nine hours, to witness this House live from the side galleries. While we fully understand why those galleries have had to be closed as a result of the demonstration, is that not seen as a way of giving in to the sort of harpies who do that sort of thing?
Those of us who represent innocent visitors, such as the Shropshire Women's Institute, who do not go around throwing paint on hon. Members even if they are peace seekers, think that it is a great sadness that we are giving in to those who behave like that, while the right sort of 168 visitors, who pay their taxes that we may sit here, are banned from watching us because of the restriction on the number of seats. Can this policy be a very brief one indeed?
§ Mr. SpeakerI hope the whole House will agree that it is right that we should take what measures seem necessary in order to protect hon. Members in the Chamber. The incident the other day could have been much more serious.