§ Mr. Tony Marlow (Northampton, North)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Among your many onerous duties—I cannot pretend that this is a major matter—you are responsible for the supervision of the customs, practices and behaviour of the House. You will know that on Thursday night there was a motion to suspend the 10 o'clock rule. When the vote took place, 15 members of the Liberal party voted for that suspension. One gained the impression that it was their intention to pursue and follow the debate thereafter. Apparently, that was not so. There was a subsequent vote between 12 and 1 o'clock and only one Liberal member was present.
Is it appropriate that people should vote for the House to carry on its business into the early hours of the morning and then absent themselves into the darkness of the night and leave it to other people—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. As Speaker, I do not listen to points of order about matters which arose when the House was in Committee.
§ Mr. Peter Hain (Neath)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. As reported in The Guardian, the Post Office Board and the Government are conspiring to privatise the Post Office—Post Office managers to line their pockets and Ministers to line the Treasury coffers. Surely we should have a parliamentary debate about that. Have you had any request from the Government to make an urgent statement about the matter before they make their final decisions?
§ Madam SpeakerNo Ministers have let me know that they wish to make a statement on that issue.
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you had a request from the Secretary of State for National Heritage to make a statement about the takeover of LBC? I wonder whether you and others are aware that the previous company, Crown Communications group, ran LBC into bankruptcy. It has now been stated that some of the personnel who brought the company down and made it bankrupt will run the new company, with Lady Porter as a backseat driver. It is high time that we had a statement.
§ Madam SpeakerI have not been informed by any Ministers that they wish to make a statement today on that matter.