§ Lord GrocottMy Lords, before we begin today's debate, I want to offer the House the usual arithmetic on the speakers' list. If everyone were able to restrict their speeches to six minutes, the House would rise at around 5.30 p.m. If they were to be able to restrict their speeches to around seven minutes, we would be about 50 minutes to an hour on from that—let us call it 6.30 p.m. Should they be 10 minutes, it would be 8.30 p.m., and I leave noble Lords to work out the arithmetic thereafter. I have had pressure from people asking me to point out that six-minute speeches would mean a 5.30 p.m. conclusion. Of course, the debate is not time-limited, and no one is in a position to impose anything.
A number of people have asked me to reiterate the requirement of the Companion that we always print at the start of the speakers' list, which is as follows:
Members who become aware in advance that they are unlikely to be able to stay until the end of the debate should remove their names from the list of speakers".That is one reason why I thought it important to spell out the time scale.
§ Lord Cope of BerkeleyMy Lords, in supporting the Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms in what he said, I should tell the House that my noble friends Lady Trumpington and Lord Elton have withdrawn their names from the speakers' list for exactly that reason.