HC Deb 28 June 1962 vol 661 cc1360-4
Mr. Gaitskell

May I ask the Leader of the House whether he will state the business of the House for next week?

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Iain Macleod)

Yes, Sir. The business for next week will be as follows:

MONDAY, 2ND JULY, AND TUESDAY, 3RD JULY—Report stage of the Finance Bill.

WEDNESDAY, 4TH JULY—Second Reading of the Trinidad and Tobago Independence Bill.

Committee and remaining stages of the Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Bill [Lords].

At seven o'clock, private Members' Motions will be considered.

THURSDAY, 5TH JULY—Supply [22nd Allotted Day]: Committee.

Debates will take place on B.A.O.R., until seven o'clock, and afterwards on the Berlin Situation.

Both debates will arise on the appropriate Votes.

House of Commons Members' Fund Bill: Second Reading.

FRIDAY, 6TH JULY—Finance Bill: Third Reading.

Committee and remaining stages of the Trinidad and Tobago Independence Bill

The business proposed for MONDAY, 9TH JULY, will be: Supply [23rd Allotted Day]: Committee.

There will be a debate on Education in Scotland, on the appropriate Votes.

Second Reading of the Building Societies Bill [Lords] and the Town and Country Planning Bill [Lords], which are consolidation Measures.

Motion on the Small Farmer (England and Wales and Northern Ireland) Scheme, 1962.

Mr. Gaitskell

Can the right hon. Gentleman tell us when the White Paper announcing the Government's views on the Pilkington Report is likely to be published, and will he give us an assurance that there will be a debate on the Report and on the White Paper, if published, before the Summer Recess?

Mr. Macleod

We shall publish the White Paper on the Pilkington Report next week and there will certainly be a debate, in Government time, on the Pilkington Report before the Summer Recess.

Mr. Gaitskell

The right hon. Gentleman will recall our exchange before the Recess about the Sea Fish Industry Bill and the announcement of Government policy, in another place, that subsidies would in future be paid for vessels bought in foreign shipyards. He will recall that I asked him when we were to have an opportunity of debating this matter. Can he now answer that question? As, in another place, an Amendment carried in Committee was defeated on Report, when will the House of Commons have an opportunity of discussing and voting, if necessary, upon this important change in Government policy?

Mr. Macleod

Speaking from memory. I think that there was a subsequent opportunity to discuss it on an Adjournment debate. I do not think that it would be proper for me to discuss the business of another place on the business submitted to this House. The opportunity to discuss and vote on this matter, is, of course, in the hands of the Leader of the Opposition, if he chooses to use a Supply Day.

Mr. Gaitskell

Do I understand that the Orders made under this Bill will not be debatable in the House?

Mr. Macleod

No, Sir. I did not mean to imply that at all. That, of course, would provide an opportunity.

Mr. Nabarro

Will my right hon. Friend make a statement next week on the progress being made with the report of the Select Committee on Lords Reform? Having regard to the lamentable departure of Lord Hinchingbrooke from the House, would he consider advising the Select Committee that we would like to have an interim report on the narrow issue of whether a peer who is a Member of this House and who has refused the writ of summons to the Upper House might be allowed to continue to sit in this House? Will my right hon. Friend consider advising the Select Committee on those lines?

Mr. Macleod

I think that it would be a mistake to try to give new instructions to the Committee that the two Houses of Parliament have set up.

I am sure that it would be improper for me to make an interim report on a matter which we have referred to a Committee of this importance.

Mr. Wade

Is the Leader of the House in a position to say whether a debate will take place on the Report of the Royal Commission on the Police and, if so, when?

Mr. Macleod

No, Sir. Apart from the preliminary observations which have been made by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, this is a matter which we are still studying and would like further time to study.

Sir H. Legge-Bourke

Will my right hon. Friend reconsider including in the business proposed for Monday, 9th July, the matter of the Small Farmer Scheme, because many of us would like to deal with small farmers' problems in far greater detail than could possibly be done in the short time that would be available in that debate?

Mr. Macleod

The business that I have announced is exempt and, therefore, my hon. Friend's eloquence will not be stopped by the clock.

The business before ten o'clock, as he will appreciate, is Supply time, the allocation of which is for the Opposition.

Mr. Hoy

Reverting to the right hon. Gentleman's reply to my right hon. Friend about the Sea Fish Industry Bill, is it not a fact that the House will not have an opportunity of recording its view of the decision to pay subsidies to foreign shipyards, but under the negative Resolution procedure will have the opportunity only to approve or reject an Order for paying subsidies to certain sections of the industry?

Mr. Macleod

Yes, but there will be an opportunity for discussion on the Order. I do not think that the wider issue is affected by what has happened in another place, which, in the end, has had the effect merely of restoring the Bill to the condition in which it left this House.

Mr. Ridsdale

Can my right hon. Friend say whether, before we rise for the Summer Recess. we will have a debate on Far Eastern affairs, particularly on China and the influence which it is exerting on South-East Asia and India?

Mr. Macleod

There will be many competitors for debates during the last few weeks before we rise and it is at least likely that some of them will cover aspects of foreign affairs. Whether they will cover those aspects I cannot yet say.

Mr. Lipton

May we have an assurance that before the House rises for the Summer Recess the Writ for Dorset, South will be issued, as the electors of that unfortunate constituency will otherwise be disfranchised, perhaps until next winter?

Mr. Nabarro

One thing is certain—that the Labour Party will not win South Dorset.

Mr. Macleod

I could not give the hon. Member for Brixton (Mr. Lipton) an undertaking in those terms.

Mr. P. Walker

Can my right hon. Friend say when we can expect an early debate on the Report of the Jenkins Committee?

Mr. Macleod

I could not give that undertaking. This is an important and valuable Report, but, as I have said, there will be many claimants on the rather limited time for important debates in the weeks left to us.

Mr. C. Royle

Does the right hon. Gentleman remember that on Tuesday his right hon. Friend the Colonial Secretary made a statement on the suspension of the constitution of Grenada and that I requested that we should be allowed an hour or two to devote to the subject? Is the right hon. Gentleman ready to give time, if only a couple of hours, to clarify that situation?

Mr. Macleod

I do not have that in mind in the business which I have announced, nor in the programme which I am planning. But I will discuss the matter with my right hon. Friend if the hon. Gentleman wishes.

Mr. P. Browne

Owing to the tardiness of the Opposition, will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that we have a full-scale debate on farming, with particular reference to the Price Review, before the Summer Recess?

Mr. Macleod

The Price Review and similar matters are essentially matters of Supply and we would be very glad to debate them if they were put down, but I cannot hold out any hope of Government time for them.