HC Deb 28 March 1974 vol 871 cc619-20
21. Mr. Hunt

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek powers to prohibit the publication of all public opinion polls from the date of Parliament's dissolution until after polling day in all General Elections.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

This matter was considered in 1967 by Mr. Speaker's Conference, which recommended by a majority that the results of public opinion polls should not be published for a period of 72 hours before the close of the poll. This recommendation was not endorsed by Parliament, and I am not at present persuaded that any further action is necessary or desirable.

Mr. Hunt

Does the right hon. Gentleman think that this kind of political fortune telling, which is about as accurate as the palmist on the pier, tends to distract people's attention from the really important issues of an election? Is it asking too much that for just three blissful weeks we and the country should be spared the peddling of these pointless predictions?

Mr. Jenkins

That was not the view that the House took on previous occasions before both the 1970 and the 1974 elections. I would judge, on the whole, that if the results of those elections had any effect it would have been to make the public rather more sceptical about public opinion polls. But I think that scepticism is a quality that individuals can exercise for themselves, and I doubt whether any prohibition that might lead to a black market passage of information if some people heard of what was in a suppressed poll would really be beneficial.