§ 2.52 p.m.
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, in the unfortunate temporary absence of my noble friend the Leader of the House may I, with the leave of the House, make a Statement about how we propose to handle the Northern Ireland legislation later this week? As most of your Lordships will know by now, the Government 945 have decided to introduce emergency legislation into Parliament to transfer the responsibility of the Government of Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom Parliament, and a Bill to this effect was introduced into the House of Commons yesterday. Another place will be considering this Bill to-day and to-morrow, and the Government hope that your Lordships' House will be able to consider it on Thursday. In order, however, to allow your Lordships more time in which to debate the provisions of this Bill, it has been agreed through the usual channels that a No. 2 Bill should be introduced into this House to provide a vehicle for debate to-morrow, Wednesday. My noble friend Lord Windlesham will therefore, immediately after this Statement, introduce an identical Bill to that which is now before another place. Having mentioned my noble friend's name, may I take this opportunity, I am sure on behalf of all your Lordships, to wish him well in the difficult and dangerous task that faces him.
§ LORD ABERDAREThis No. 2 Bill will be set down for Second Reading in your Lordships' House to-morrow, Wednesday, and we will then have a full Second Reading debate on it. On Thursday we will take the remaining stages of the Bill, but only if the Commons' version of the Bill has not been received. Perhaps I could try to make this quite clear. We will continue to use our No. 2 Bill until such time as the No. 1 Bill arrives here from another place. If the No. 1 Bill reaches your Lordships' House on Thursday morning, we propose to drop the No. 2 Bill and take the First and Second Readings of the No. 1 Bill formally; the Committee and remaining stages will then follow in the usual way. If, however, for some reason the No. 1 Bill does not reach this House until after we have embarked on the Committee stage, or even Report stage, of the No. 2 Bill, we will take those stages of the No. 1 Bill formally and, if necessary, move into the Bill such Amendments as have been carried to the No. 2 Bill. I hope these arrangements will prove satisfactory to your Lordships. They are complicated, but I hope that by the use of the No. 2 Bill procedure your Lordships will have a greater opportunity to consider the pro- 946 visions of this Bill, as well as getting away for an Easter holiday.
May I now turn to the question of Amendments? Amendments will be circulated on Wednesday evening for consideration on Thursday. They will be tabled to the No. 2 Bill but their line references can be adapted to the No. 1 Bill when it reaches us. In the normal course Amendments are not circulated in advance of a Bill's being given a Second Reading. If, however, the House wants advance notice of Amendments as soon as they are tabled, even in advance of the Second Reading, the Public Bill Office will be prepared to circulate any such Amendments on Wednesday morning.
My Lords, these arrangements on the Northern Ireland Bill have caused some rearrangement of our Business. Your Lordships will remember that tomorrow was one of the Wednesdays set aside for our experimental, limited time, Back-Bench debates, and I must express my thanks to my noble friend Lord Alport and the noble Lord, Lord Rhodes, for so willingly agreeing to move their Motions to Tuesday, April 18, the day the House resumes after the Recess. Your Lordships will see that I am later to move a Motion on Short Wednesday Debates. This merely regularises the procedure for these debates following on a Motion of February 22 last.
If I may mention just one other matter while I am on my feet, the Third Reading of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Bill had been nut down for to-day but, as your Lordships will see, is no longer on the Order Paper. It transpired late yesterday that an Amendment might he required to the Bill and it was thought better that we should not take the Third Reading to-day but post-pone it until after the Recess. The Bill has had an easy passage so far in your Lordships' House and I hope that this rearrangement of Business will not inconvenience any of your Lordships. Finally, may I inform your Lordships that, with the leave of the House, at a convenient moment after half-past three my noble friend Lord Carrington will be making a Statement on the kidnapping of three British technicians in Turkey.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am sure we are all grateful to the noble 947 Lord for explaining the anticipated course of Business for the next few days. As the noble Lord himself said, the procedure is a little complicated, but I think it is workable. It involves a uniquely House of Lords approach to procedure, and it has been arrived at as the result of consultations with my noble friend the Leader of the Opposition and the other side. We on this side will do all we possibly can to ensure that this procedure works. The noble Lord made some reference to the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, and it will have been noted how warm were the expressions of agreement on this side, no less than opposite; and I should myself like to add my own good wishes to the noble Lord on his appointment. The acceptance of the office, I would say, indicates a deep-seated and wholly admirable attitude to the sense of public duty, and nothing else. With that, my Lords, I simply say that if there are any difficulties arising from this new arrangement we on our side will do all we can to help.
§ LORD WADEMy Lords, I should like to join in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, for this Statement, and also to join in paying a tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, and to wish him well in his new and very important task. I am only sorry if it means that we may not see so much of him in this House. With regard to the procedure, on behalf of my Liberal colleagues we approve of this rather unusual but necessary procedure.
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, I am very grateful to both the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, and the noble Lord, Lord Wade, for joining in so readily with this procedure; it is one of the assets of your Lordships' House that we have this flexibility in our Business. I am very grateful also for the offer of further discussions in the event of any unforeseen eventuality.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, may I congratulate the noble Lord in adopting my noble friend Lord Shepherd's procedure (which at one time was called "Shepherd's pie" when my noble friend was Government Chief Whip) and in carrying it through to a logical conclusion. It is just possible that we shall run into slight difficulties, but I am quite sure that if we do we shall 948 be able to manage them. I would urge any noble Lords who are disturbed about what is proposed not to hesitate to consult the Whips on either side, or the noble Earl the Leader of the House. I hope that the absence of the noble Earl is not a result of the intellectual strain of working out these arrangements, and that he will shortly be with us.
May I also add a very warm word of good wishes, and indeed of congratulations, to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham? I notice that the Press rather suggested that he had been chosen for this job because is a Roman Catholic. We all know that he belongs to the Roman Catholic religion, and I think this is no disadvantage for the post he is going to occupy. But I am sure it is the view of all noble Lords—certainly it is of those on this side of the House—that the noble Lord is eminently capable. We have a high regard for his abilities and his qualities, and he will certainly have the good wishes and the support of your Lordships in the difficult task he will have to carry out.