§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Will you consider the rather silly games that are played by Government business managers, who insist on placing important documents such as this in the Vote Office, to be collected by Members only when Ministers take their seats? Today, as the Minister sat down, there must have been 40 or 50 Members scrambling outside the Vote Office like children—I was one of them—to get copies of papers to bring into the Chamber for our hon. Friends. This place is reduced to a farce when we operate on that basis, and I ask you to consider whether the rules could be changed.
It was only when I looked at the document that I was able to establish the fact that a millionaire house owner in Mayfair would be paying less council tax—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. A point of order to me is one thing, and the hon. Gentleman raised a reasonable point; however, he must not use that as a platform for continuing the exchanges. Of course, it has always been the practice that documents should be made available in the Vote Office—[Interruption.] Order. Allow me to finish speaking. It has always been the practice for documents to be made available when the Minister concerned has finished speaking. I quite understand how difficult it is for hon. Members when there are a great many documents to be read immediately so that questions may be put. I have been a Back Bencher myself. Perhaps I shall examine the matter further.
§ Mr. Tony Blair (Sedgefield)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I should be grateful if you would assist us. You will have heard the Home Secretary make a statement to the House earlier today, on Sunday trading, in which he said that the Government would allow Conservative Members a free vote on the provisions of the Sunday trading legislation. Indeed, he emphasised that point several times and sought an assurance from me that there would be a free vote on the Opposition side. I gave that assurance, but subsequently—probably because of an error—notes for the Home Secretary to use in answering supplementary questions have been circulating among the press.
Those notes include an answer to the theoretical question:
Will the Government whip through their employee protection provisions?Those provisions will be an important part of the legislation on Sunday trading. The answer provided for the Home Secretary to use was:It is too early to say.In other words, the basis on which the statement was given to the House, and on which we questioned the Home Secretary—that there would be a free vote—has now been thrown into doubt by the right hon. and learned Gentleman's notes on answers to supplementary questions. I should be grateful if you, would tell us how we can ensure that the Home Secretary makes an accurate statement to the House, so that we may question him on it. The matters concerned will be at the very heart of the legislation.
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman will understand that I can concern myself only with questions and answers 1025 across the Floor of the House, not with what happens outside the Chamber. Of course, it is for Members themselves to pursue with Ministers the way in which the House will finally divide on particular legislation. The way in which individual Members or parties vote in the House is certainly not a matter for the Chair.
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. There is another way of dealing with the matter. When my hon. Friend the Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) makes such comments, what he says will finish up in Hansard tomorrow, and the Home Secretary can read it. Even better, it has occasionally been known for Ministers to be brought hack to the Dispatch Box to correct what they have said. Before today is out, the Home Secretary should be brought here and challenged by Opposition Members. We shall still be here tonight, and we shall demand a proper statement, because the right hon. and learned Gentleman has misled the House into believing that the Tories will have a free vote from the very beginning of Second Reading right through to the end. It is pretty obvious that that will not be the case.
§ Madam SpeakerThe points of order raised by the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) are often of great interest to the House. One reason why we shall have an Official Report tomorrow—indeed, one reason why we record all our proceedings—is so that we can all see what has been said the day before, and perhaps make some corrections if that proves necessary.
§ Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. With regard to your assertion of your intention to consider further the matter raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours), I understand that the release of any papers relating to a ministerial statement is in the hands of the Minister concerned, who may, if he wishes, instruct the Deliverer of the Vote to make such statements available before the Minister rises to speak, when he rises, or later. I beg you, Madam Speaker, to check on that matter, and to bear it in mind when considering any action which you may wish to take.
§ Madam SpeakerI shall certainly bear that matter in mind.