HC Deb 02 August 1956 vol 557 cc1594-5
Mr. Fenner Brockway

May I raise a point of order, Mr. Speaker, of which I have given notice to you and to the Secretary of State for the Colonies?

Mr. McKay

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Has Question Time ended?

Mr. Speaker

Yes.

Mr. Brockway

The Secretary of State for the Colonies has informed the House that he intends to appoint a tribunal to examine certain matters in Nigeria. I understand that he has now found that he has no powers to appoint that tribunal over the heads of the Governments in Nigeria and that, therefore, at Arundel Castle tomorrow, the day after the House rises for the Recess, he is to seek to obtain an Order in Council giving him those powers.

The point of order I am raising is whether a Minister has the right, on the day after Parliament goes into Recess, to secure an Order in Council of this kind which the House of Commons has no opportunity to discuss.

Mr. Speaker

I could not answer that as a matter of law. That was not the point of order the hon. Member put to me. I received a telegram from the hon. Member this morning asking leave to ask a Private Notice Question because, the hon. Member stated, he had received a cablegram from the Prime Minister of Eastern Nigeria saying that the Colonial Secretary intended, by Order in Council, to make an alteration of the Constitution.

When I considered that I made inquiries as to whether or not the right hon. Gentleman did intend to alter the Constitution. I was informed that there was no such intention and, therefore, the basis of fact on which the hon. Member's Question was founded did not exist and, in those circumstances, I disallowed it. The wider constitutional question was not put to me as a point of order. I should take some time to consider that.

Mr. Brockway

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I add that what you have said represents what I indicated to you, but it was not until subsequent to the telegram I sent last night that I discovered that a conference at the Colonial Office had found another way out of the difficulty than the proposal to amend the Constitution. I came up to your office then, but it was a very late hour and all I could do was to indicate that I would raise the matter as a point of order today.

Mr. Speaker

As a matter of fact, I did not hear about that at all. I acted on the information which was at my disposal.