For the benefit of members in the House who may not have been here earlier and for the television audience across the country, I will make a statement now which reflects on issues that occurred earlier tonight in the debate.
Under the standing orders for this debate, the rules were that there would be no requests for unanimous consent and no dilatory motions. One was entertained, so for the purposes of ensuring that this is not precedential in nature and so there will no confusion in future dates, I will read it into the record.
The Chair reminds the House that the special order under which this debate is being conducted states clearly that the Chair may receive no requests for unanimous consent to waive rules. The Chair has wanted to accommodate the will of the House and of the sponsoring ministers in permitting a period of joint questions and comments after the ministers had spoken. However, the Chair would be remiss if I did not point out that this is not to be considered a precedent in the remainder of this debate tonight or indeed on future occasions governed by similar special orders.