§ Mr. Bryan Davies (Oldham, Central and Royton)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. As a new Member, I have become increasingly aware of the difficulties of being called to ask a supplementary question at Question Time, and I have reflected on the fact that part of the difficulty for the Opposition is that 290 hon. Members are entitled to put supplementary questions from the Opposition Back Benches and only 250 from the Government Benches. Will an occasion present itself tomorrow evening, when 20 hon. Members on this side of the House, those on the Liberal Democrat Benches, will be supporting the Government, for you to consider them in future as being part of the Government side so that we can balance out Question Time?
§ Madam SpeakerIt is a most ingenious suggestion that I do not think I will take up at this stage or at any other.
§ Mr. Bob Cryer (Bradford, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. There has been a very important statement by one of the Commissioners, Martin Bangemann. Could you use your good offices to ensure that a copy of it is placed in the Library before the vote tomorrow night because, from the exchanges during Prime Minister's questions today, it looks as though other Commissioners and the Government may well try to cover up the statement by Martin Bangemann that the Maastricht treaty is a step towards a federal Europe? It seems to me that Parliament should have the original statement for consideration before the debate tomorrow.
§ Madam SpeakerI will use my best endeavours.
§ Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I know the importance that both you and the House place on the availability of documents. I wish to draw your attention to two documents which are directly related to subsidiarity, one produced by the Commission of the European Communities and one which ought to come from the Government, which could be relevant to tomorrow's debate and which might not be otherwise known.
You will know, Madam Speaker, that at the Birmingham European Council Mr. Delors gave an exposition of this matter and press reports indicated that the Commission was producing an extensive report on the matter. On 26 October, in the Select Committee on European Legislation, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs indicated that this document had not been received by Her Majesty's Government, but on inquiring this afternoon from the Vote Office I have obtained this document, of 25 pages, dated 27 October, which is now in the Vote Office and which I believe to be relevant to tomorrow's debate.
148 In the normal course of events, this document would be the subject of a memorandum from Her Majesty's Government, responding to the contents. It is a communication from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament. This would be passed to the Select Committee on European Legislation for report to the House, but, of course, the time scale may not allow for that. May I have an assurance that the document will be fully available before tomorrow's debate, and that—if Ministers have time—either a Government memorandum will be published some time tomorrow, responding to the document's contents at least in part, or such a response will be made during the opening speech in the debate?
§ Madam SpeakerThe Government are always anxious — rightly—to ensure that documents relating to our debates are made available to hon. Members ahead of time. The documents are extensive, and require a good deal of attention. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Newham, South (Mr. Spearing) for raising the matter.
Let me draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to the Prime Minister's answer to a question on the same point. He said:
The Commission's paper on subsidiarity will be deposited today in accordance with the usual procedures. There are no current plans for wider distribution."—[Official Report, 2 November 1992; Vol. 213, c. 30.]