HL Deb 03 May 1989 vol 507 c150
Viscount Davidson

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to say a brief word about the length of speeches in today's debate standing in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, to which your Lordships have agreed to apply a five-hour time limit. On the principle that the mover is allowed approximately 20 minutes to open and that the Minister should rise to reply not less than 25 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, all other speeches should be limited to a strict upper limit of 11 minutes. If any noble Lord should speak at greater length he would be doing so at the expense of later speakers in the debate.