§ Mr. SpeakerI undertook to announce to the House the names of the right hon. and hon. Members who have been good enough to accept my invitation to serve on the Speaker's Conference on Electoral Law.
They are the hon. Members for the following constituencies: Faversham (Mr. Boston); Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Chapman); Woolwich, West (Mr. Hamling); Holborn and St. Pancras, South (Mrs. Lena Jeger); Lewisham, South (Mr. Carol Johnson); Wrexham 1762 (Mr. J. Idwal Jones); Rutherglen (Mr. Gregor Mackenzie); Poplar (Mr. Mikardo); Dagenham (Mr. Parker); Southall (Mr. Pargiter); Dulwich (Mr. S. C. Silkin); Vauxhall (Mr. Strauss); Hammersmith, North (Mr. Tomney); Norwich, North (Mr. Wallace); Blyth (Mr. Milne); Thirsk and Malton (Mr. Turton); Berwick and East Lothian (Sir W. Anstruther-Gray); Huntingdonshire (Sir D. Renton); Leeds, North-West (Sir D. Kaberry); Ormskirk (Sir D. Glover); Dorset, North (Sir Richard Glyn); Londonderry (Mr. Chichester-Clark); Hereford (Mr. Gibson-Watt); Waltham-stow, East (Mr. John Harvey); Melton (Miss Pike); Rugby (Mr. Wise); Weston-super-Mare (Mr. Webster); Southend, West (Mr. Channon); and Orpington (Mr. Lubbock).
The Joint Secretaries attending the Conference will be Mr. K. Eddy, Home Office, and Mr. S. C. Hawtrey, Journal Office, House of Commons, to whom all communications respecting the Conference should be sent.
§ Mr. SnowWith great respect, Mr. Speaker—although I fear that it is too late to make this observation—may I draw your attention to the fact that it appears that nobody has been included who represents the overspill area of the Birmingham conurbation?
§ Mr. SpeakerI was merely describing the constituencies of the hon. and right hon. Members who had accepted my invitation to serve. I was not doing anything else.
§ Sir Harmar NichollsHow does the number of hon. and right hon. Members invited compare with previous Committees of a similar sort? The list seemed unduly long, Mr. Speaker, and I wondered how it compared with others.
§ Mr. SpeakerMy recollection is that while this Conference will have 29 Members, made up, as best one can, to be representative of every class of constituency and interest, the last one contained 31 Members; but in that case Members of the other House were included, a practice which I have not followed.
§ Dame Irene WardIt is difficult to know, Mr. Speaker, from your statement, the names of hon. Members who have 1763 accepted your invitation, because I cannot carry all their constituencies in my head. Did you invite a woman Member to sit on the Committee?
§ Mr. SpeakerYes.
§ Dame Irene WardMay I ask whether she accepted?
§ Mr. SpeakerI very much hope so; if not, I have misled the House in my statement.