§ Mr. Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield) (Con)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Further to the question of my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Mr. Atkinson) and in light of the Minister's inability to tell the House what would be the legal consequences of the failure to get the ballot papers issued by 1 June, is there any way by which we can get a competent and capable Minister to the House this afternoon who can answer what is in fact a very simple question of enormous consequence? It is my belief that if that issuing did not take place the elections would be effectively void, which would reflect very badly on the state of our parliamentary democracy. We also want to know what provision the Government will be making to recall Parliament next week in those circumstances so that we can act to prevent the entirety of the European election process being voided as well.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Michael Lord)These are very serious matters, but they are not ones that the Chair can deal with at this time. The whole House will have heard what the hon. Gentleman put on record. Matters concerning the recall of Parliament are all laid down in the Orders of the House.