Owen Thompson
Main Page: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)Department Debates - View all Owen Thompson's debates with the Scotland Office
Points of Order
Owen Thompson Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Can you advise the House on whether there is any precedent for a situation where a Secretary of State turns up at the Dispatch Box without the accompanying information necessary to advise and guide the discussion and debate in a question session? In my experience here since I was elected, that seems to be the way that things are supposed to be done. Is this shambolic behaviour from the Secretary of State for Scotland precedented or unprecedented?
Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I apologise to Mr Deputy Speaker for trying to intervene during the question session. However, this is important, because the statement of reasons is clearly a critical factor in the discussion. We were not able to question the Secretary of State on it after the statement, which he brought to the House. We are going to have a debate, which is encouraging and welcome, but most of us will not have had the chance to see the statement of reasons before it starts. Can you advise us, Mr Speaker, on what further opportunities Members will have beyond this Standing Order No. 24 debate to question the Secretary of State in detail on the statement of reasons, when the Government eventually get around to publishing it?
Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. We had over an hour of questions after a voluntary statement from the Secretary of State. He kept referring to the statement of reasons but would not divulge any information. He also kept referring to the Minister for Women and Equalities and said that she would be able to answer all the questions. Did the Government at any point discuss who was the most appropriate person to make the statement, so that Members could question the Government properly and ask somebody who actually had some knowledge and could answer questions?