That at the sitting on Monday 2 December, the Speaker shall put the Questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the Motion in the name of Mr Andrew Lansley relating to select committee statements and the Motion in the name of Mr Charles Walker relating to backbench business (amendment of standing orders) not later than one and a half hours after the commencement of proceedings on the first of those Motions; such Questions shall include the Questions on any Amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved; proceedings on those Motions may continue, though opposed, after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.—(Mr Lansley.)
I hope that we have enough time to debate this motion, which will effectively suspend our Standing Orders. Given that the subject matter that we will be debating on 2 December is amending the Standing Orders, it seems to me that it is wrong to limit the debate because, as we know, in the absence of a written constitution, the Standing Orders are the constitution of our country. I do not think that we should take changing the Standing Orders lightly. That is why I hope that in the course of this debate we will hear from the Leader of the House about why he thinks it reasonable for the Standing Orders to be altered, and for the time limit for debate to be as short as set out in the motion. When one looks at the detail of the motion, one can see that effectively—
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
