HC Deb 14 November 1957 vol 577 cc1134-5
38. Brigadier Clarke

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he proposes to take regarding the Report of the Wolfenden Committee.

Mr. R. A. Butler

I am unable to add at present to the answer which I gave on the 31st October to a similar Question by the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Donnelly).

Brigadier Clarke

Does my right hon. Friend appreciate that many of us on this side of the House, and people in the country, think he should reject the Wolfenden Committee Report in so far as it relates to homosexuality?

Mr. Butler

In my reply to the debate on the Address, I said that I thought we had much better obtain the reactions of public opinion and, if desirable, the opinion of this House before we made up our minds on these difficult subjects, but meanwhile I can tell my hon. and gallant Friend that I am under no doubt as to the anxiety felt on this subject in some quarters.

Mr. Younger

In view of the importance the right hon. Gentleman says he attaches to the opinions in this House, can he say whether he is prepared in the reasonably near future to provide time for a discussion? While appreciating that there are many differences of opinion on the matter, is it not a fact that public opinion has been aroused and that if the Report were pigeon-holed without any discussion in the House it would be very unfortunate?

Mr. Butler

There is no question of pigeon-holing the Report; otherwise I would not have mentioned it in my speech in the debate on the Address, when the subject was supposed to be confined to economics. I decided to extend it to cover vice. I did that on purpose, because I wanted to give an opportunity to the House to realise that if there were a wish for a debate I think we had better have talks through the usual channels.