I beg to move,"That the Order of 26th October 2005 (Terrorism Bill (Programme)) be varied as follows:""For paragraph 3 (proceedings on consideration) substitute—""‘3. Proceedings on consideration shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table and shall be brought to a conclusion (so far as not previously concluded) at the times specified in the second column."
| TABLE |
|
| Proceedings |
Time for conclusion of proceedings |
| Amendments relating to Clause 23, new Clauses |
Three hours after the commencement of proceedings on consideration. |
| Amendments relating to Clauses 1 to 22, remaining proceedings on consideration |
Three hours after the commencement of proceedings on Amendments relating to Clause 1.’ |
I know that Opposition Members object frequently to every programme motion, but I suggest that even they would find it hard to fault this one. The effect of this programme motion is to increase the amount of time that the House will have to consider this Bill on Report.
The House will recall that the programme motion passed after Second Reading allocated us six hours in total for Report. However, any votes in the middle of that would have eaten into that six hours. Without wishing to reveal any secrets or pre-empt later debate, the considered and careful judgment that I have reached is that it is unlikely that the House will reach complete agreement today without any Division.
Accordingly, the motion provides that we begin on amendments to clause 23 and the new clauses that have been tabled. We have three hours for that part of our proceedings. Once that concludes, any votes that are necessary will take place, and they will not cut into the House’s remaining time. Once all the votes have taken place, we will then have a further three hours on the remaining groups of amendments, followed by whatever Divisions are required. I hope that the whole House will recognise the benefits of that.