§ Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Can you help the House by confirming that a substantial proportion of yesterday's business was, indeed, Government amendments to their own Bill; and that it is impossible that time was wasted yesterday, as you and other occupants of the Chair would have ensured that no such thing could possibly happen?
§ Madam SpeakerAnyone—hon. Members or those outside the House—who reads Hansard will find that the right hon. Gentleman is quite correct, in that there were Government amendments which were debated.
§ Mr. Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Leader of the House has made what appears to be a misleading statement, and I am sure that she will want to correct it. She said that there were no new clauses or amendments tabled of which the Government had not given notice and that were not foreshadowed by the Bill, yet there were five new clauses and 30 amendments that were not mentioned in Committee. She needs to make it absolutely clear that that was why serious discussion was needed at the beginning of the debate: the new provisions had been nowhere near the Bill and so represented an abuse of the House.
§ The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Margaret Beckett)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I am happy to make clear what I said, which is not what the hon. Gentleman says I said. I said that it is my understanding that no issues were raised yesterday of which people had not been previously aware in other ways: for example, they were in the Budget, if not in the Bill. As for misleading the House, the hon. Gentleman himself yesterday gave the House wrong information when he said that none of the matters had been before the House, so there had been no opportunity to comment on them—
§ Mr. Duncan SmithThirty amendments.
§ Mrs. BeckettIt is no good his shouting at me—what he said yesterday was not true. The new clause on maternity allowances to which he referred yesterday was 878 known to the House and had been tabled prior to the last business statement. The hon. Gentleman is trying to defend himself. This business has been before the House for two weeks—[Interruption.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I want no more comments from sedentary positions.
§ Mrs. BeckettThis business has been before the House for two weeks. At no point has any member of the Opposition asked for extra time or said that fresh matters were being raised, or drawn attention to concerns about time needed for debate. If the hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr. Duncan Smith) is too incompetent to realise when he needs more time, that is his problem, not ours.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. We are now into debate and I shall not allow debate on points of order. Hon. Members have pressed me to get a debate on Kosovo today and an enormous number want to speak in the debate, but half of them will be disappointed. I have the business of the House to safeguard. I shall take two more points of order in the hope that that will be the end of them.
§ Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. This is not the first time that the Leader of the House has said specifically that there are no historical precedents for debating motions of substance when British troops are in action—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman is raising a point of order with me, but I said earlier that we are considering a very narrow business statement. If the hon. Gentleman seeks to catch my eye during business questions on Thursday, I will certainly call him. If he can cite a precedent now, I will listen to him.
§ Sir Peter TapsellThe famous munitions debate in 1916 and the Wardlaw-Milne motion of censure against the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, in 1942 are two famous parliamentary examples of substantive motions debated when British troops were in action. Therefore, the right hon. Lady's comments are simply not true.
§ Madam SpeakerWe shall now proceed to the ten-minute rule Bill.