HC Deb 25 February 1954 vol 524 cc558-9
32. Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has yet received the evidence on which the Report of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment is based; and when it will be made available to hon. Members of this House.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Minister for Welsh Affairs (Sir David Maxwell Fyfe)

The minutes of evidence were published hi daily parts while the Commission were sitting, and are therefore available to hon. Members. I understand that the hon. and learned Member has in mind that the minutes should be republished in book form in the same size and shape as the Commission's Report. This would necessitate completely resetting the many pages of evidence, and I do not feel able to adopt this suggestion.

Mr. Hughes

If consideration by the House of this Report is to be long delayed, does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman think that it would be a public service to publish it in book form, properly indexed, so that when the House eventually discusses this Report the information will be readily available?

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I have pointed out the difficulty, and at the moment I am not convinced of the necessity to overcome it.

34. Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply I gave on 12th November last to a question by the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. J. Grimond), to which I have at present nothing to add.

Mr. Hughes

Having regard to the present crime wave and the magnificent way in which the police are discharging the added burdens placed on them, does he not think that a debate here on this Report would help to form public opinion in a useful way?

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

A request for a debate must go through the usual channels.

Mr. S. Silverman

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman realise that this Royal Commission arose out of the debates we had in 1948? We were all satisfied then to leave the matter over for a little time while the Royal Commission investigated and reported. But that is now six years ago, and it will not really do to treat the Commission with such disrespect and ignore its findings, with neither a Government pronouncement of policy nor an opportunity for the House to consider it.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

I have pointed out the way in which the opportunity is usually procured.