– in the House of Commons at 3:35 pm on 22 January 1991.
Quentin Davies
, Stamford and Spalding
3:35,
22 January 1991
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I do not know whether you have yet received any representations on your new regulation that hon. Members must wear passes when they are in the House. No one, I am sure, would wish to quibble with any regulation which you might deem necessary for the duration of the emergency, but a number of us have considerable reservations about this as a long-term security measure and believe that it might even be counter-productive. May I, therefore, express the hope that there is no unexpressed intention that the new regulation should be perpetuated after the emergency, and that, if there were such an intention, we would have a full opportunity to debate the matter?
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
The wearing of passes in the precincts has been introduced, on advice, in connection with the current situation. Any decision to continue the practice indefinitely would be a matter for further consideration.
Jeremy Corbyn
, Islington North
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Have you had any intimation from the Home Secretary of a desire to come to the House to make a statement concerning a substantial number of people of Iraqi and Palestinian background, who have been taken into custody under immigration regulations in the past few days, despite the fact that the Home Secretary gave an undertaking last week that internment would not be introduced? This is an important matter, and I hope that the Home Secretary will come to the House to report on it.
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
I have had no such intimation. What the hon. Member said will have been heard by the Patronage Secretary on the front bench.
Mr Ronald Brown
, Edinburgh Leith
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can you waive formalities to ensure that a delegation from the Iraqi National Assembly may visit this place? It wants to send members here to meet us. [Interruption.] Even in this period, when we are at war, it makes sense if we speak about peace and about negotiation rather than confrontation. It makes sense to the people outside and to the people that I represent; perhaps it does not make sense on the Government Benches. Clearly something has to be done, hopefully, to resolve the horrible conflict. The National Assembly of Iraq has a political and moral right to send members here to speak to us. [Interruption.] I am willing to listen to them, even if that lot are not.
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
I am afraid that that is not one of my many responsibilities. I have no power to waive any formalities in that regard.
Mr Teddy Taylor
, Southend East
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Have you noticed from the Order Paper that one and a half hours are permitted for the discussion of motion No. 3, a highly complex matter, and also for motion No. 4, which is equally complex? Can you clarify for the House whether the effect will be that, if we do not complete the discussion of motion No. 3 and its amendments in one and a half hours, there will be no discussion of motion No. 4?
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
What I can say to the hon. Member relates to points of order. The quicker we get to the Export and Investment Guarantees Bill and complete it—exceptionally, there is not a great demand to take part in that debate—the quicker we can get on to the motions which the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. It will last one and a half hours, or until 11.30 pm if we get to that business before 10 o'clock.
Dr Norman Godman
, Greenock and Port Glasgow
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. With reference to the letter which you sent to each of us yesterday—the contents of which I agree with and which I thought were eminently sensible—are you satisfied with the security arrangements concerning the well-being of the staff of the House of Commons, as well as the more vocal Members?
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
"Satisfied", I think, would be a large claim to make, but I hope that we have taken adequate measures which will ensure the safety of not only the staff but hon. Members.
Derek Conway
, Shrewsbury and Atcham
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The staff of the Admission order office, the Serjeant at Arms and his staff and the Chair are very helpful in enabling those constituents who have travelled far and have waited nine hours, to witness this House live from the side galleries. While we fully understand why those galleries have had to be closed as a result of the demonstration, is that not seen as a way of giving in to the sort of harpies who do that sort of thing?
Those of us who represent innocent visitors, such as the Shropshire Women's Institute, who do not go around throwing paint on hon. Members even if they are peace seekers, think that it is a great sadness that we are giving in to those who behave like that, while the right sort of visitors, who pay their taxes that we may sit here, are banned from watching us because of the restriction on the number of seats. Can this policy be a very brief one indeed?
Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East
I hope the whole House will agree that it is right that we should take what measures seem necessary in order to protect hon. Members in the Chamber. The incident the other day could have been much more serious.
The Speaker is an MP who has been elected to act as Chairman during debates in the House of Commons. He or she is responsible for ensuring that the rules laid down by the House for the carrying out of its business are observed. It is the Speaker who calls MPs to speak, and maintains order in the House. He or she acts as the House's representative in its relations with outside bodies and the other elements of Parliament such as the Lords and the Monarch. The Speaker is also responsible for protecting the interests of minorities in the House. He or she must ensure that the holders of an opinion, however unpopular, are allowed to put across their view without undue obstruction. It is also the Speaker who reprimands, on behalf of the House, an MP brought to the Bar of the House. In the case of disobedience the Speaker can 'name' an MP which results in their suspension from the House for a period. The Speaker must be impartial in all matters. He or she is elected by MPs in the House of Commons but then ceases to be involved in party politics. All sides in the House rely on the Speaker's disinterest. Even after retirement a former Speaker will not take part in political issues. Taking on the office means losing close contact with old colleagues and keeping apart from all groups and interests, even avoiding using the House of Commons dining rooms or bars. The Speaker continues as a Member of Parliament dealing with constituent's letters and problems. By tradition other candidates from the major parties do not contest the Speaker's seat at a General Election. The Speakership dates back to 1377 when Sir Thomas Hungerford was appointed to the role. The title Speaker comes from the fact that the Speaker was the official spokesman of the House of Commons to the Monarch. In the early years of the office, several Speakers suffered violent deaths when they presented unwelcome news to the King. Further information can be obtained from factsheet M2 on the UK Parliament website.
The first bench on either side of the House of Commons, reserved for ministers and leaders of the principal political parties.
The House of Commons.
The order paper is issued daily and lists the business which will be dealt with during that day's sitting of the House of Commons.
It provides MPs with details of what will be happening in the House throughout the day.
It also gives details of when and where the standing committees and select committees of the Commons will be meeting.
Written questions tabled to ministers by MPs on the previous day are listed at the back of the order paper.
The order paper forms one section of the daily vote bundle and is issued by the Vote Office
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
The Serjeant at Arms has two main areas of responsibility. First he has duties relating to the order and security of the House of Commons. He is responsible for maintaining order in the Chamber, Galleries, Committee Rooms and precincts of the House of Commons, and the control of access to them. By tradition the post is usually given to an ex-serviceman and the Serjeant at Arms is the only person in the House of Commons allowed to carry a sword. The Serjeant at Arms Department also has housekeeping duties which include the allocation and booking of accommodation for MPs, cleaning of the House and the supply of stationery, laundry and other stores. The office of Serjeant at Arms goes back to 1415 and the reign of Henry V when the Serjeant was responsible for carrying out the orders of the House of Commons, including making arrests. Today he performs several ceremonial duties that date back to the early days of the office. He carries the mace in the Speaker's Procession each day and also into the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament.
The admission order office is responsible for allocating tickets for members of the public to watch the proceedings of the Commons from the Strangers' Gallery.
It is situated next to the central lobby in the Houses of Parliament.
Only a limited number of tickets are available.
Popular events - such as prime ministers questions - and topical debates often produce long queues of people outside Parliament waiting for tickets.
MPs are allocated a pair of tickets for Strangers' Gallery on a rota basis (every nine sitting days, excluding Fridays) which they can make available in advance to constituents who request them.
