Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 8:00 pm on 16th May 2006.
'No order may be made under Part 1 where both of the following conditions have been fulfilled—
(a) within the period defined in section 13(7), more than 10 per cent. of the members of the House of Commons have signified to the Speaker in writing that they object to the use of the Act for purpose of introducing the order in question, and
(b) the members referred to in subsection (1) above are not all members of the same party.'. — [Mr. Heath.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
Motion made, and Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:—
The House divided: Ayes 85, Noes 259.
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I do not want to detain the House, but during the debate on the last group of amendments, I am fairly certain that I understood the Minister to respond to Andrew Miller by saying that it would be regrettable if a Select Committee were referred for judicial review. That is on the record. However, it is my understanding that Select Committees and the whole House are the subjects and beneficiaries of parliamentary privilege and could not be referred for judicial review. Can you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, either rule on it now or, if necessary, look further into it so that either you orMr. Speaker can make a ruling?
The hon. Member, who is an experienced Member of the House, knows that, strictly speaking, that is not a point of order for the Chair. It would draw the Chair into a matter that arose during a debate. Equally, he is experienced enough to know that, under the device of making a point of order, he has put his point on the record and we shall no doubt be able to resolve it and gain complete clarification in the course of the debate.