HL Deb 31 January 1967 vol 279 cc890-1

2.52 p.m.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask the Chairman of Committees by what authority a Peer seeking to amend a Statutory Instrument subject to Special Parliamentary Procedure is charged a fee.]

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL)

My Lords, the authority for charging fees to Petitioners against Special Procedure Orders is Private Bill Standing Order No. 215, together with Appendix C, Part IV, which sets out the amount of the fees to be charged in this House, and Part IV of the Table of Fees of the Standing Orders governing Private Business in the House of Commons. These provisions apply to all Petitioners against Special Procedure Orders, whether they are Peers, Members of the House of Commons or members of the public.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, may I thank the noble Earl for that reply? May I ask him also whether he thinks it logical, in the mid-twentieth century, that a Member of any House of Parliament, in attempting to do his duty—and in his view his duty may be to move a simple amendment to an Order of this kind—should be charged a fee when it is open to any Member of your Lordships' House to move an annulment of the Order on the Floor of this House when he can speak for as long as he likes without any fee being charged?

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

My Lords, perhaps I might point out to the noble Lord that if he does not approve of the provisions of this Standing Order it is open to him, as it is to any other noble Lord, to ask the House to amend it.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, while thanking the noble Earl for that further reply, might I ask him whether, in view of the extreme unfairness of all this, he will himself propose an amendment to the Order?

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

My Lords, I will, of course, gladly consider any proposal that the noble Lord may put to me.