§ Lord GrocottMy Lords, before we begin today's debate, perhaps I may say a word about timing. I do so against a background of having been frequently criticised during the previous Session for the House sitting beyond 10 o'clock. That is a criticism I readily accept because it is an objective that I desperately should like to meet myself.
The arithmetic for today's debate is that if Back-Bench speeches could be confined to eight minutes—I repeat, eight minutes—we would complete our discussion by the normal rising time of 10 p.m. It obviously is not within my control to guarantee that we shall finish at 10 p.m. Therefore, I further remind the House of the words in the Companion, which states:
Members who become aware in advance that they are unlikely to be able to stay until the end of a debate should remove their names from the list of speakers".