Peter Bottomley
Main Page: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Sir Peter Bottomley
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Motion 3 on the Order Paper includes the words,
“welcomes the Commission’s support for the Government’s efforts to reduce the deficit and set the public finances on a sustainable path”.
Is that an issue on which the Opposition could have called for a debate, rather than just a vote?
Mr Speaker
I think that the matter has already been debated in a European Committee. It is therefore not immediately obvious to me how a debate would have been sought today. The answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question—
Mr Speaker
I do not require any further point of order. The answer to the question is no.
Mr Speaker
Order. I have made the point. The hon. Gentleman will resume his seat.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. As of now, I have received no such indication. I recognise the importance of the matter to the hon. Gentleman and to others. What he has said will have been heard by those on the Treasury Bench.
If the hon. Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley), having exercised a modicum of restraint and patience, wishes to pursue a different point of order, he may do so.
Sir Peter Bottomley
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The question that I put to you was whether the Opposition could have had such a debate, rather than whether they should have had one. The answer may be the same, but the answer that the House was given was not relevant to the question that I had put.
Mr Speaker
The answer is no. I am grateful for the linguistic clarification, but the answer is the same.