§ 3.6 p.m.
§ Lord HeskethMy Lords, at a convenient moment after 3.30 p.m. my noble friend the Leader of the House will, with the leave of the House, repeat a Statement that is to be made in another place on the Economic Summit in Tokyo.
It may be for the convenience of the House to know that the Report stage of the European Communities (Amendment) Bill will be adjourned at about 7 p.m. for about one hour and that during that adjournment two food protection orders followed by two orders relating to criminal justice and drug trafficking will be taken.
It may also be for the convenience of the House if I were to remind your Lordships of the rules which apply to proceedings on Report. The rules are set out in full in pages 109–10 of the Companion to the Standing Orders. Perhaps I could simply draw your Lordships' attention to three small points.
First, on Report no Lord may speak more than once to an amendment, except the mover of the amendment or, with leave, a Lord wishing to explain a part of his speech, or a Minister; secondly, arguments fully deployed in Committee should not be repeated at length on Report; and, thirdly, save for short questions for elucidation, only the mover of an amendment should speak after the Minister. The one exception to that rule is where a Minister wishes to speak early, for instance, in the event that the Minister wished to indicate his or her acceptance of an amendment.