§ 2.57 p.m.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, with the leave of the House my noble friend Lord Ferrers will be making a Statement, at a convenient moment after 3.30 p.m., on the implementation of Common Agricultural Policy.
Your Lordships will have noticed that on the Order Paper for to-morrow, in addition to the Motion standing in the name of my noble friend the Leader of the House seeking agreement to the proposal to set up a permanent Joint Committee of both Houses to scrutinise delegated legislation, there is a new Notice which has been tabled so that there can be a general debate on this important recommendation. Unfortunately my noble friend is indisposed at the moment, and it is doubtful whether he will be available to-morrow. He is, however, most anxious to take part in this debate, and therefore I hope that your Lordships will understand if in fact the first Motion on the Order Paper in his name is not moved to-morrow.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord; and we certainly send our sympathies to the noble Earl, who like most of us at this time of year has his traditional February cold, and wish him a speedy recovery.
In view of the slight difficulty we had in persuading the Government even to debate the Report of the Joint Committee, the least we can do is to say that we agree, so far as I am concerned, to the postponement of the general debate. If I understand the noble Earl correctly, he is proposing not to seek approval of the Report to-morrow but simply approval of the recommendations which would set up a Joint Scrutiny Com- 392 mittee. Whereas I should have been averse to taking it without a general debate, I accept that it is urgent enough for us to do as is now proposed. Unless any noble Lords feel very strongly, it might be better almost to take that recommendation on the nod, rather than have half a bite at the subject, so that we can have a proper debate later on what is an extremely important Report. I certainly hope that the noble Earl will not hurry back until he has got rid of his cold, and perhaps the noble Earl, Lord St. Aldwyn, would recommend him to take some tetracycline which has worked well on mine.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for his ready co-operation in this matter. I will certainly pass on his messages of sympathy to the Leader of the House, and I would strongly support his suggestion that we should take the second Motion formally and have a full debate later, as soon as my noble friend is available.