HC Deb 05 April 1973 vol 854 cc598-600
12. Mr. Connack

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will make a statement about the timing of the local government elections in Northern Ireland.

Mr. Whitelaw

As I promised the House last week, I have considered fully the arguments for and against a further postponement of local government elections. These elections have already been postponed four times and a further postponement would delay the introduction of the new local government organisation and structure which has been strongly supported in this House and in Northern Ireland. These elections are an essential part in the democratic process and in bringing into operation more effective local government. I have, therefore, decided that the local government elections will be held, as planned, on 30th May.

Mr. Connack

I thank my right hon. Friend for clarifying the situation. In view of the understandable concern expressed on both sides of this House last week, will my right hon. Friend state what steps he has taken to ascertain opinion in Ulster?

Mr. Whitelaw

I undertook to the House last week to consult and to discover opinion in Northern Ireland. I have done so during the first three days of this week. The views expressed to me there have been among the very important factors which have brought me to the decision that I have made.

Mr. Wellbeloved

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that many Opposition Members will consider that a disgraceful decision on the part of the Secretary of State? It is a slap in the face for those of my right hon. and hon. Friends who have given their support to the White Paper. They, and many of those hon. Members who abstained—about 200 hon. Members on the opposition side—may not do so on future occasions.

Mr. Whitelaw

This is not a slap in the face for anyone [Interruption.] It is important to try to take a balanced decision. I have never claimed that all the arguments in this case were on one side. Certainly they were not.

Perhaps I may tell the hon. Gentleman some of the things which would happen if these elections were postponed. Before doing that, let me point out to him that they have already been postponed four times and that this is the new form of local government which was pressed very hard in this House and strongly supported by the hon. Gentleman's own party when in Government and afterwards. It includes the introduction of the principle of "one man, one vote", and the introduction of area boards consisting partly of elected and partly of nominated people. These are very important reforms.

If these elections were not held in May, these reforms could not take place in October. It was represented to me in Northern Ireland that the whole credibility of the administration and of the determination of this House that new local government procedures—which we wanted—should come into effect would be at stake if we postponed the elections for the fifth time—recognising that the councils as they are at the moment, with some of them already collapsing, would be the same councils as were elected in 1967. These are matters that we cannot possibly ignore.

Having considered the arguments on the other side I came to the conclusion that further uncertainty would be very unfortunate and bad for local government, and would mean that many of the decisions that would have to be taken by area boards would be taken only by the nominated members, without the assistance of those members who were elected by the people.

Captain Orr

Is my right hon. Friend aware that we very much appreciate the difficulties about the postponement, and that the argument for postponement was to avoid the local government elections becoming a sort of preview or substitute for the elections to the Assembly? Could not the difficulty be overcome by a fairly early announcement about the date of the elections to the Assembly? If that were done the difficulty would not arise.

Mr. Whitelaw

I agree with my hon. and gallant Friend. An announcement will be made as soon as possible. I hope, at an early date, to introduce a Bill dealing purely with the elections to the Assembly and to make clear the timing of that election as soon as possible.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

In view of the almost unanimous view of the political parties in Northern Ireland, I regret the Secretary of State's decision. There is now a danger that the elections will be fought on the White Paper issues and not on the real issues of Northern Ireland. In the spirit that the major factor is the Assembly elections, I express the hope on behalf of all Labour hon. Members that, given the right hon. Gentleman's decision, the people will nevertheless use the elections for local government purposes, namely, to make their practical plans for the Assembly elections which we hope will be at the end of June.

Mr. Whitelaw

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I realise that my decision is bound to be disappointing to him and to others. The political parties did not unanimously agree that they did want local government elections. Equally, I know that strong views were expressed by several parties that they did not wish them. I had to take all those factors into account. Having balanced the advantages and disadvantages, I made my decision. I am grateful for the way in which the hon. Gentleman has taken it.