Points of Order (Hansard, 7 February 1994)

§ Mr. Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you been approached by the Minister for Transport in London asking to make a statement about today's announcement by Network SouthEast that it intends to close London's oldest railway terminus, Fenchurch Street station, for seven months from the end of July? You will appreciate that that will have an enormous impact on thousands of commuters from Essex and on the people of east London, and that there will be, as a result, additional strain on the underground and more traffic congestion in Essex and east London. I should be horrified to learn that the Minister did not intend to make an early statement on the consequences of that announcement.

§ Dr. Robert Spink (Castle Point)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. If you ask the Minister to come and make a statement, will you ask him to make it clear that the closure is to take place in order to implement a £83 million resignalling scheme?

§ Madam Speaker
There is no point in putting arguments to me. Members should put points of order to me concerning our Standing Orders or breaches of our practice—they do not arise in this case.
To answer the orginal question: no, the Minister has not told me that he wants to make a statement on the matter.

§ Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You have in the past been harsh with the Government about their press releases and press conferences. I believe that the House has been further slighted today. Although we have had a statement on the serious matter of the atrocity in Sarajevo, each week in Britain 35 times the number of those killed in that atrocity die as a result of smoking.
Today, instead of a statement to the House, there was a press conference on the Government's policy on tobacco advertising. In my constituency this weekend, one tobacco company revived an advertisement which it admits has an appeal to children.
We cannot trust the tobacco industry on this matter and when the Government make statements on such serious matters, the House should be given the chance to give them full scrutiny.

§ Madam Speaker
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman realises that that is not a point of order.
If I might correct his original statement—the Minister did not make a statement. It was a private notice question, which I thought it necessary for the House to debate because of the seriousness of the situation.