On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I rise to make a point of order in response to the statement from the cabinet secretary that the Trade Union Bill will be referred to the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee—a move that I welcome.
I make my point of order on the back of your ruling last week, Presiding Officer, that the legislative consent memorandum is not competent. I have taken legal advice on that ruling, and I believe that the advice is open to challenge. I do not think that the ruling was correct, in terms of executive competence—
And your point of order is, Mr Kelly?
I am coming to my point of order.
Let us have it, then.
If you let me speak, I will make my point of order.
Mr Kelly, get to your point of order, please.
If you please let me make my point of order, I will get on with it.
I want to know what the point of order is.
If you keep interrupting me, Presiding Officer, I cannot—
Members: Oh!
Mr Kelly, please sit down.
I am not going to sit down.
Mr Kelly, please sit down.
I will not sit down. I want to make a point of order.
Mr Kelly, please sit down.
I want to make a point of order, and I was not allowed to make the point of order because you kept interrupting me.
Mr Kelly, please resume your seat.
I am not going to resume my seat. I want to make a point of order.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
Sit down. I am speaking.
I remind the member of the requirement to conduct himself in a courteous and respectful manner and to respect the authority of the chair. I am asking you to sit down—will you please do so?
No. I am not going to sit down. I want to make a point of order.
I remind the member of the powers that I have under rule 7.3 of the standing orders, which gives me the power to exclude a member from the chamber. I ask you now to desist and to apologise.
I very reasonably rose to make a point of order—
I ask you to desist and apologise, Mr Kelly.
No, I am not sitting down. I want to make a point of order.
The member has been repeatedly warned against his conduct and asked to desist and apologise. The member has refused to do so. Under rule 7.3, I hereby require the member to leave the chamber.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
Sit down, Mr Findlay. I am speaking.
I also exclude the member from participating in the remainder of business in the chamber today and on the next sitting day. [Interruption.] I ask security to please escort Mr Kelly from the chamber.
I suspend the meeting until Mr Kelly has left the chamber.
14:29 Meeting suspended.
Mr Findlay, you had a point of order.
At topical questions—
I am sorry, Mr Findlay. Dr Simpson had a point of order first.
Presiding Officer, we are in a difficult situation, in the sense that we are now being invited to have one of the parliamentary committees consider a motion that you have declared is illegal, or not competent.
I wonder whether it is practical and possible for you to consider suspending your ruling on the matter until the committee has had time to consider it. At that point, of course, you would be perfectly entitled to re-impose your ruling, but that would allow the committee to consider the matter unfettered, unhindered and not under a ruling from you that what they were discussing was actually not competent.
Dr Simpson, you are factually wrong. What the committee is discussing is a policy memorandum, and that in no way impinges on the ruling that I have made.
Mr Findlay, you had a point of order.
Presiding Officer, at topical questions, the Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training said that she was disappointed with the Parliament’s view on the decision to reject the legislative consent memorandum on the United Kingdom Government’s Trade Union Bill. The Parliament has not expressed a view on the legislative consent memorandum, so I wonder whether there will be an opportunity for the cabinet secretary to say whether she agrees with Scottish Labour that your ruling on this matter—
That is not a point of order, Mr Findlay.
I am coming to the point.
Will you get to the point of order, please? So far, I have not heard a point of order.
Presiding Officer, I believe that I have up to three minutes to make my point of order.
Please come to it.
I wonder whether the cabinet secretary will be able to express her view as to whether your ruling is wrong. Finally, I understand that you have legal advice on this matter. Would you kindly publish that legal advice?
No. In common with other Presiding Officers, I have absolutely no intention of producing the advice that I may or may not have been given. Whether the cabinet secretary is disappointed by the ruling is a matter entirely for her, and I do not intend to ask her to say any more.
The next item of business is a debate on motion—
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Can I ask for your guidance? [Interruption.]
Order. Let us hear the member.
I ask for your guidance on the standing orders and on how they allow members from this Parliament to question any guidance that you might have been given and then give the chamber? Is there a procedure under which we can challenge the competency of the guidance that you have been given? If so, do members have up to three minutes, as I understand they do, to make a point of order?
It is certainly true that members have up to three minutes to make their point of order, but what I need to know first of all is what that point of order is. Once—
On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
Sit down, Mr Bibby. I am speaking.
Once the point of order is clear, members are then allowed to take up to three minutes on discussion of it, but what I have not heard so far is the point of order, and I need to hear that first.
On a point of order, I ask for your guidance, Presiding Officer. Why was Mr Kelly not allowed to make his point of order? [Applause.]
Mr Bibby, I asked repeatedly for the member to make his point of order. He did not come to his point of order. If he had explained to me what his point of order was, he could then have had up to three minutes to make that point of order.
Previous
Topical Question Time