§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Lord President of the Council whether he will give an indication of the procedural changes which the Government propose to recommend.
§ Mr. CrossmanBriefly, the changes I intend to propose to the House are as follows:—
- 1. There should be no counts after 10 p.m.
- 2. The method of putting amendments should be simplified.
- 3. The Finance Bill should normally be committed to a Standing Committee of 50, with an extra two days on Report.
- 4. There should be arrangements for voluntary agreements on selected Bills.
- 5. Private Members' ballot Bills should be able to be introduced by proxy.
- 6. Second Reading Committee reports should be published with the daily Hansard.
- 7. The Report stage of certain Bills should be taken in Committee.
- 8. Third Readings of Bills should be taken formally, unless the House specifically decide otherwise.
- 9. The question "that Lords Amendments be now considered" should be dispensed with.
- 10. Affirmative resolutions should be exempted from the 10 o'clock rule for 90 minutes only.
- 11. All general Statutory Instruments should be considered by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments.
- 12. Private Members' Time should be divided so that 8 days are spent on Second Readings and 8 days on later stages of Private Members' Bills and the equivalent of 6 days on Motions.
- 13. Standing Orders should be amended to provide for suspending any sitting until the following morning when the sitting appears likely to extend beyond a reasonable time.
2 - 14. Standing Order No. 9 should be amended so as to allow for more frequent debate on urgent matters.
- 15. The Opposition should be free to take up to four half days from the 29 Supply Days for urgent debates.
- 16. The Deputy Speaker should have power to accept Closure motions on Amendments on Report stages.
- 17. Ministers should be entitled to speak in Standing Committee on the Finance Bill whether or not they are members of the Committee.