Hunting (Re-committed) Bill
9:25 am
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
My hon. Friend has said from a sedentary position that he cannot hear my point of order. I shall speak more clearly.
The precedents for a re-committal were in respect of extremely minor errors caused by inadvertence. In the history of Parliament and British democracy, this is the first occasion on which a Bill had gone back to the Floor of the House on Report, with Back Benchers then deciding to overturn the will of the Committee and make a fundamental basic change to the purpose of the Bill. Mr. Speaker then decided to recommit the Bill. There is no precedent for such a re-committal. I should value your advice, Mrs. Roe, about whether our sitting today is proper.