Motion to discuss matter of special interest
Standing order 50 provides that at any time when other business is not before the House a Minister may state to the House a proposal to discuss a matter of special interest in preference to moving a specific motion. The Minister must then move a motion specifying the time to be allotted to the debate. The Minister then moves ‘That [stating subject matter] be considered by the House’. The motion may be withdrawn, without leave, by a Minister at the expiration of the time allotted to the debate. A matter of special interest has been discussed by the House on only one occasion, when it was discussed early in the order of business prior to the giving of notices.
This procedure may be regarded as corresponding, from a ministerial point of view, to a matter of public importance (the practice of the House being that Ministers do not submit MPIs—see Chapter on ‘Non-government business’).