§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wish to raise a point of order, of which I have given you notice, in connection with a private notice question from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman) last week. In column 748, the Foreign Secretary helpfully replied to my question by referring to the treaty of Utrecht, which, as hon. Members will recall, was drawn up in 1713. The House of Commons Library has helpfully furnished me with a copy of the treaty, which is in the original French.
I seek your guidance, Mr. Speaker, as a number of right hon. and hon. Members will seek to debate the treaty in future. Are we allowed to quote liberally from the French version or do we have to request an official English translation?
§ Mr. SpeakerI draw the attention of the hon. Lady to "Erskine May", page 371, which states:
Speeches must be made in English, but quotation in another language has been allowed on occasion, though a translation should be provided.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. No one would have any objection to quotations, but it might be useful to have a translation of the whole treaty in the Library, since one of the things that it does is to exchange Gibraltar for Florida. If we are to reopen negotiations, we could perhaps consider having Florida back.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Lady has a point.