§ 3.7 p.m.
§ Viscount DavidsonMy 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 the noble Lord, Lord Annan, to which your Lordships have agreed to apply a five-hour time limit. On the principle that the mover is allowed 20 minutes and that the Minister should rise to reply not less than 25 754 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, all other speeches should not exceed 11 minutes. If any noble Lord were to speak at greater length, he would be doing so at the expense of subsequent speakers in the debate.