Clause 2.—(ORDERS FOR FACILITATING INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN NORTHERN IRELAND.) (Hansard, 26 June 1952)

§ Mr. Bing
I do not think we need detain the Committee any length of time on this Clause. I only rise because I think there is an unfortunate tendency in this House rather to encroach on the prerogative of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It would be far more suitable to leave the actual details of how long the Orders should lie to the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It would be better if we gave them the power to approve their own Regulations, and to leave it to that Parliament to decide exactly when these Regulations should be carried out.
May I ask whether the Government of Northern Ireland were consulted about this Clause, and whether they agreed with it? Does it fit in with the different legislative system in Northern Ireland? Whether this is the most effective means, when a Parliament only sits for a short period in the year, of seeing that there is a popular safeguard in regard to the requirements in Northern Ireland, is another matter. I only raise the matter shortly in the hope of getting some elucidation from the Home Secretary.

§ Mr. Hale
I would not have risen if I did not profoundly disagree with my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Bing) on this issue. It goes to a question of principle, and I am sorry to have to criticise my hon. and learned Friend in the way I must. The Committee is discussing an international convention, and it is quite fantastic that, when we have an international agreement to cover the whole of the motoring world and bring in countries 2651 in South America, in Europe, in Asia, and so on, that we should lay down a special dispensation for Northern Ireland to opt out of this provision and lay down their own requirements and their own procedure.
We have to be fair to the foreign visitor. After all, the foreign visitor coming to this country thinks he is visiting the United Kingdom. He will have studied the law and will have mastered one code which applies in England. It would be unfair if, when he went to Northern Ireland, he found he had to learn something new. I would be the last person in the Committee to say anything derogatory about the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which has a vested duty, but this is not a vested duty or it would not be dealt with in this Bill.
If we had delegated to the Northern Ireland Parliament the right to legislate on these matters, it would not be necessary for us to be considering these provisions with reference to Northern Ireland, but we have not. Ours is the responsibility, and ours being the responsibility I cannot see for one moment what possible argument there can be for Orders in Council to be issued here laying down a scheme in this country, and for the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the Governor or by the various procedures which can be used to adopt a different scheme over there.
This is quite serious. It seems to me, with very great respect to my hon. and learned Friend, with whom I normally agree, and, indeed, whose interventions in debate I always welcome, that he is wrong in this matter. I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will resist his blandishments. He has accepted one Amendment by my hon. and learned Friend, and I welcome that and I am in complete agreement with it, but I do not think he should accept his suggestion here. I think it would be very much better if a comprehensive Bill were passed in which comprehensive rules were laid down by this Parliament for the whole of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.

Mr. Braithwaite
It may assist the transaction of our business if I say to the hon. and learned Member for Horn-church (Mr. Bing) that in view of his 2652 solicitude for the people of Northern Ireland, we will look again at the question of the time limit.