§ 3.35 p.m.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, with the leave of the House my noble friend Lord Colville will be making a Statement on Northern Ireland at a convenient moment after 3.30. This will be followed by a Statement by my noble friend Lord Drumalbyn on the rail dispute.
My Lords, this may be a convenient moment for me to say a word about the short Wednesday debates. As your Lordships will know, the last of these debates in the present experimental period were to have taken place on Wednesday, May 24, a date which now falls in the Whitsun 1138 Recess. I am glad to be able to inform the House, however, that, owing to the generosity of noble Lords opposite, Wednesday, June 7, will be available for two such debates if this is the wish of the House. As your Lordships know, the Procedure Committee recommended that the experiment on short debates should expire at Whitsun, and of course this date, June 7, will fall outside that period. But if this proposal is agreeable to your Lordships, next week I shall propose a Resolution extending the period of the experiment to cover June 7.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his references to our generosity. Will he bear in mind that no doubt we shall have this to bring to his attention if on any future occasion we have to ask for a variation of the timetable?