Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)
My Lords, I should like to say a few words regarding our business today. This is a very important debate and there are a large number of speakers, so there is an advisory limit of five minutes for Back-Bench contributions. I urge noble Lords to stick to that out of consideration for all the other noble Lords who wish to speak. Even so, it will mean that our debate will finish after 4 pm.
My noble friend the Leader of the House will open the debate by repeating a Statement given by the Prime Minister. We will then proceed with the speakers’ list as published in today’s list. My noble friend Lord Callanan will wind up the debate in the usual way—
Noble Lords
Lord Ashton of Hyde
I should have said “in his normal, smooth manner”.
I urge noble Lords to raise any questions when they make their speeches rather than make interventions. Your Lordships will have noticed that there are two Motions on the Order Paper today and, as indicated by today’s list, we will be moving only the first of those Motions.