MALTA (LEGISLATION) (Hansard, 28 March 1956)

§ The Prime Minister
With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I will make a statement on Malta.
As my right hon. Friend the Colonial Secretary told the House in Monday's debate, the Government accept the Report of the Round Table Conference and intend to proceed with the necessary steps to carry out its recommendations.
The Government have now considered, in the light of the debate, what these steps should be. They have decided to proceed with legislation in this House to give effect to the recommendations of the Report. The Bill will provide for all the necessary changes involved in carrying the Report into effect.
However, that part of the Bill relating to the representation of Malta in this House will be brought into operation 2158 only if and when the Maltese people have shown their desire for it in a General Election following a dissolution of the Maltese Legislative Assembly. The Prime Minister of Malta has said he will request the Governor to grant this.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
While welcoming his statement and the decision of the Government in this matter, may I ask the Prime Minister whether we may take it that the proposed legislation will be passed through all its stages in Parliament before the General Election takes place in Malta?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, Sir. We are considering now how the Bill can be drafted so as to ensure that representation will not come into effect until the Maltese people have confirmed in another General Election that they desire it, and also to ensure that the changes in the Constitution, which involve a substantial diminution in the power of the Imperial Government, could also be dealt with. We are considering how those matters can be handled in the legislation. But our purpose is to pass the legislation while, at the same time, by whatever legislative process is worked out as the best, ensuring that there shall be a further pronouncement in Malta before it comes into effect.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman quite understood my question. What I was asking was not about the details of the legislation but whether he would give an assurance that it would be passed through all its stages in Parliament and receive the Royal Assent, subject, of course, to the qualification which he has mentioned, before the General Election takes place in Malta.

§ The Prime Minister
I have said that it is our intention to proceed with the Bill in all its stages. As to the Royal Assent, I should like to reflect on that and on how it would be affected by what happened in Malta.

§ Mr. Bevan
What we desire to find out is whether all the Parliamentary stages here will be concluded before the Election takes place in Malta.

§ The Prime Minister
I am sorry if I did not make that plain.

§ Mr. Bevan
The right hon. Gentleman said "proceed with".

§ The Prime Minister
Yes. I thought that if one proceeded with a Bill one proceeded with the purpose of proceeding with it. At any rate, our intention was that all the stages in this House should be completed.

§ Mr. Bevan
The right hon. Gentleman will, I am sure, sympathise with our anxiety here because the language that he has used in his statement today conveys the impression that the people of Malta are now to be asked to decide this matter a third time. If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the language he will see that that is so. What we desire is to make clear to the people of Malta what our intentions are before they have an Election there. Therefore, may I ask whether Parliamentary stages will be concluded before the Election takes place in Malta?

§ The Prime Minister
That is the intention. I think it was clear, because I said: The Bill will provide for all the necessary changes involved in carrying the Report into effect"— all of them. We will proceed with those. However, that part of the Bill dealing with representation would await the verdict of Malta.

§ Viscount Hinchingbrooke
Is my right hon. Friend aware that there are quarters in this House and sections of opinion in the country which are bound to view certain of the decisions reached with some alarm, misgiving and disquiet? Can he say how soon it is proposed to table the Bill?

§ The Prime Minister
I am certainly aware that there are some who view this procedure with concern or anxiety, and some, indeed, who do not agree with it. That is very natural, in all the circumstances. I can only tell my noble Friend that we have, as a Government, given the most careful thought to this matter and are absolutely convinced that the course on which we have decided is the right one to pursue in those circumstances. Otherwise, I should not be here saying it to my noble Friend. I cannot give a time-table for the legislation because, as the House will realise, the Report dealt with principles and there must be some discussion of detail with the Government of Malta before the Bill can be actually drafted.

§ Mr. N. Pannell
May I ask my right hon. Friend whether it is intended that when the final decision is reached in the Maltese Legislative Assembly account shall be had for the Constitution of Malta which calls for a two-thirds majority of the Legislative Assembly for any change in the Constitution?

§ The Prime Minister
That was dealt with in the debate the other day, and my impression is that we proceeded on the basis of the existing Constitution of Malta.

§ Mr. J. Griffiths
Will the right hon. Gentleman make it clear that that provision in the Constitution will not apply in the new circumstances? That was made clear in the debate, and it is clear now.

§ The Prime Minister
indicated assent.

§ Mr. Dudley Williams
Will my right hon. Friend undertake not to introduce into this Parliament any Bill, where this question is concerned, which has not the approval of all denominations of the Christian religion, including Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants?

§ The Prime Minister
I take it that the House would wish that the Government should do everything in their power to try to bring about full agreement between all the denominations concerned. I must say to the House that I think that the course which we have decided to follow gives us the best chance of bringing that about. We shall certainly try to do it, and I could not give the kind of undertaking for which my hon. Friend has asked.