New Provision for Earlier Sittings on Tuesdays — 29 Oct 2002 at 23:20

Motion made, and Question put,

That, with effect from 1st January 2003 until the end of the Parliament, the Standing Orders and practice of the House shall have effect subject to the following modifications:

(1) Subject to paragraph (3) of this Order and to paragraph (14)(a) of Standing Order No. 1B (Election of Speaker by secret ballot), the House shall meet on Tuesdays at half-past Eleven o'clock and-

(a) the moment of interruption shall be at Seven o'clock; and

(b) in their application to such sittings, reference to a specified time in the Standing Orders shall be interpreted as reference to a time three hours earlier, except that reference to Twelve o'clock in Standing Order No. 24 (Adjournment on a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration) shall be read as reference to half-past Ten o'clock, and that references to One o'clock, a quarter past One o'clock and half-past Three o'clock in Standing Order No. 88 (Meetings of standing committees)shall be read as references to twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, twenty minutes to Twelve o'clock and Two o'clock respectively.

(2) On Tuesdays the sitting in Westminster Hall shall begin at half-past Nine o'clock, shall be suspended from half-past Eleven o'clock until Two o'clock and may then continue for up to a further two and a half hours (and in calculating that period no account shall be taken of any period during which the sitting may be suspended owing to a division being called in the House or a Committee of the whole House).

(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Order shall not apply to a Tuesday sitting which immediately follows a periodic adjournment of more than two days or is the first day of a session, and in the former case the sitting in Westminster Hall shall begin at half-past Nine o'clock and conclude at Two o'clock.-[Mr. Woolas.]

The House divided: Ayes 274, Noes 267.

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