§ Q6. Mr. Wallasked the Prime Minister if he will now make a statement about the setting up of specialist committees of the House.
§ The Prime MinisterI would ask the hon. Member to await the proposals which my right hon. Friend the Lord President of the Council hopes to put before the House, I hope next week.
§ Mr. WallI welcome the right hon. Gentleman's reply, but can he confirm that he has studied the American system which gives far more consideration to details of defence and foreign affairs under the specialist committee system, and will he bear this in mind?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman knows that this matter has been extensively discussed between the two Front Benches, and that we have in mind, as I am sure right hon. Gentlemen opposite do, experience from other countries. I have expressed my doubts in the past why it would not be suitable to set up committees precisely on the American model in this House, particularly as regards defence, where security is so much involved, and would mean creating first- and second-class Members, some of whom had access to very secret material while others had not.
§ Mr. MendelsonBefore making a final decision on this matter, will my right hon. Friend also keep in mind the contrary opinion to that expressed by the hon. Member for Haltemprice (Mr. Wall), that the concentration of foreign affairs in a specialist committee in the United States Congress has led to the situation in which the House itself has become a mere rubber stamp and has lost all the traditional rights to have meaningful debates on foreign affairs?
§ The Prime MinisterI am aware of this contrary opinion, and our practice, not only in the matter of committees, but in the matter of full Parliamentary debates, is so different from that of the United States that I do not think it is helpful to draw too many conclusions from their practice.