Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Eric Illsley (Barnsley Central, Labour)
I have listened to the hon. Gentleman’s point and, obviously, taken advice on the issue in the short time that I had available this morning. Given that we are now some 23 minutes into the 30-minute allocation of time for the programme motion and that the Programming Sub-Committee has already agreed that motion—albeit with some reservations on the part of the Opposition—I am not prepared to reverse the decision that I made to consider the programme motion.
In my view, this is not a procedural issue as such. It is a matter for debate as to whether the programme motion has substantially altered. I have made the ruling and will stick with it. We will continue with the motion as it stands.
On the substantive point of extending the out-date, we rehearsed that last Thursday in the Programming Sub-Committee and in the opening debate. Obviously, there may well be a further meeting of the Programming Sub-Committee, when the hon. Gentleman will again have the opportunity to press for further time for the Bill. At the moment, that is still in the hands of the usual channels. I hope that deals with his point.