§ Q8. Mr. F. Noel-Bakerasked the Prime Minister if he has re-examined requests that some classes of official records should be made available before a lapse of 50 years; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterAs the Answer to my hon. Friend's Question is lengthy, and in order not to detain the House, I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerAs some foreign practice is very much more liberal than ours, this is putting the British version of recent events at a substantial disadvantage. In view of the fact that many historians and academics feel strongly about this, will my right hon. Friend give some indication of what decision he has made, and say whether he would receive representations from representative academics and historians on this matter?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that I have had all the representations that I could want. To avoid wearying the House, I am circulating the statement, but this is a matter affecting all parties, and the House as a whole, and I am in consultation with the Leaders of the two Opposition parties on the general proposition of a shortening of the rule. What I have described in my statement is a proposal that all the records of the First World War, and the period immediately afterwards, should now be open for academic research. On the broader question, we all want to make progress, but I think that we should as far as possible proceed by inter-party agreement.
§ Mr. Michael FootWill my right hon. Friend take into account that if only he would carry this extension a little further we might find out what the right hon. and learned Member for Wirral (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd) was up to about Suez, let alone Rhodesia?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that recent publications both from Canadian and Israeli sources suggest that there is nothing left to learn about what the right hon. and learned Gentleman did, and all that we are waiting for is for him or one of his colleagues to come to the House and admit that the House was seriously misled in 1956 with the 615 inaccurate statements made on that occasion.
Following is the Answer:
After consultation with the right hon. Gentleman, the Leader of the Opposition, and the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Grimond), the Government have recommended that, apart from any records which still have to be withheld for reason's of public policy, Cabinet and Departmental records in the Public Record Office dating from the period of the first World War up to the end of 1922—the year in which the Coalition Government fell—should be opened to public inspection forthwith and in a single operation instead of being released a year at a time under the normal operation of the 50-year Rule prescribed by the Public Records Act, 1958.Her Majesty The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the recommendation in relation to records of the Cabinet and its Committees. It will be put into effect today under Section 5(1) of the Public Records Act.I hope that this measure will be received as an earnest of the Government's intentions in relation to an alteration in the 50-year Rule itself, which would require legislation. The Government are at present discussing with the right hon. Gentlemen the Leaders of the Opposition parties the recommendations of the Advisory Council on Public Records in this regard; and I hope to be able to make a further statement in the near future.