§ Q3. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Prime Minister what action he is taking to co-ordinate the work of the Secretaries of State for the Home Department, Wales and Scotland in the preparation and laying of the Orders required to implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the right hon. Member to what my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, said during the debate on 19th June.—[Vol. 785, c. 737–52.]
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterCan the Prime Minister tell the House whether, before the decision was taken for his right hon. Friends to act in apparent disregard of their statutory duties by laying the Reports without the accompanying Orders required by the Act of 1949, the advice of the Attorney-General was taken, and if so, with what result?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman made a number of contributions to the debate, both in his own speech, and outside his own speech, and now that the Bill has been laid he will have more opportunities.—[HON. MEMBERS: "Answer."]—I was trying to answer. The right hon. Gentleman can be assured that in all these matters the fullest legal advice of the Law Officers is always taken.
§ Mr. BostonAs one who is interested in constituencies in the Kentish area, may 1704 I ask whether my right hon. Friend can say whether he has seen reports of the impending flight from Bexley of the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition to the Cities of London and Westminster? Does my right hon. Friend think that the right hon. Gentleman is worried about his Bexley majority?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not think that the movements of the right hon. Gentleman are any concern of mine at all. It will perhaps be something of a pleasure, in watching Conservative broadcasts, to see, instead of those unending interviews in the Bexley working men's club, interviews in the City of London working men's club.
§ Mr. HoggAs we are interesting ourselves in one another's constituencies, is it not the case that the electorate of Huyton is 95,746, and that if the constituency were reduced to its proper proportions the Prime Minister be out of a seat as well as out of a job?
§ The Prime MinisterThe 95,000 members of Huyton are obviously much more satisfied with their Member of Parliament than are the members of Bexley—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This is not an election meeting.
§ The Prime MinisterThey still have abundant possibilities, because it was the right hon. Gentleman's Government that went to the last minute of the time allowed by the Statute. I am glad to see, in the case of the seat being created for the Leader of the Opposition, that it will not be necessary, as in the case of the seat created for the right hon. Gentleman, to send anyone to the House of Lords.