§ 1.47 p.m.
§ Lord HeskethMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to say a word about the length of speeches in today's debate standing in the name of my noble friend the Lord Privy Seal to which your Lordships have agreed to apply a six-hour time limit. Following discussions through the usual channels, who have informally agreed on a limit of 15 minutes for all Front Bench spokesmen, with my noble friend Lord Caithness rising to reply not less than 25 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, all other 1331 speeches should not exceed seven minutes. Your Lordships will recognise that, in agreeing to this new time limit of six hours, we have collectively moved into somewhat uncharted waters. I hope that this agreement will provide a good structure for the debate. I may say to your Lordships that I am sure that the Procedure Committee will be reviewing the success of this afternoon's procedures in due course. Having said that, I need hardly say that if any noble Lord should speak at greater length than I have indicated, he would be doing so at the expense of other speakers in the debate.
There are two further items which I suspect will be of interest to your Lordships. First, I must apologise for the recent arrival of the speakers' list. However, I have to tell the House that a case of electronic indigestion took place in one of the vital pieces of equipment in the Whips' Office, which delayed its arrival. Secondly, I hope that your Lordships will have observed that there are two new electronic Clocks in the Chamber. I should point out that it was not possible to supply the third Clock for the end of the Chamber. A new system in its entirety will be arriving shortly. However, we do have two Clocks and, symbolically, they are in the colours of your Lordships' Chamber.