NORTHERN IRELAND COMMITTEE (Hansard, 10 February 1975)

§ Mr. J. Enoch Powell (Down, South)

I am much obliged to the Lord President 164 of the Council for being in his place on the occasion of this motion. It fulfils the indication which he gave the House on 14th January, and, since it is clearly important to Northern Ireland, there are one or two matters in connection with it which I thought should be on the record of the House.

On 14th January, the right hon. Gentleman said, I think in relation to this Committee as well as to others which he was mentioning, that matters would be sent to the Committee only by agreement". Later he said, quite certainly in relation to this Committee, that The topic to be discussed will possibly be agreed with the Members concerned before the debate and agreed by the House."—[Official Report, 14th January 1975; Vol. 884, c. 211 and 213.] There is no disagreement, I think, that the right hon. Gentleman has indicated that it would be the intention that the agreement of hon. Members representing Northern Ireland constituencies should be secured both to the sitting of the Committee and to the topics which it was proposed it should discuss. He has generously renewed that assurance to hon. Members concerned in private, but I am sure that he would agree that as the Committee is likely to form quite a lasting institution of the House it is only right that it should be on the record.

Secondly, unlike some committees which go by the name of Grand Committees, it is I believe the intention that only occasionally should there be found a subject which was thought appropriate for this special treatment. That is perhaps worth emphasising because plainly when a part of the United Kingdom is represented in this House by a large number of hon. Members a Grand Committee plays a different rôle from that which it would play in the case of Northern Ireland where the 12 or, one hopes, 21 Members representing Northern Ireland would be more or less bound to find themselves in a minority.

Nevertheless, we entirely agree that from time to time there will be subjects which deserve mature consideration and debate in committee conditions possibly before they are brought to the House for briefer treatment. We noted with satisfaction—not that I would hold the right 165 hon. Gentleman to the exact figure—that the Lord President suggested in column 212 of the Official Report for 14th January that four times a year on average might be the number of times when a subject was thought appropriate for this treatment.

Subject to those two points—first the agreement of Northern Ireland Members, which would not be unreasonably withheld now or in future, to the topic for discussion and to the sitting of the Committee, and, secondly, the restrained use to be made of this instrument—there would be no desire on the part of the party which I represent to oppose the motion.

§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Edward Short)

I thank the right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell) for the spirit in which he has made his comments.

I confirm that we shall always try to obtain the agreement of Northern Ireland Members before any subject is referred to the Committee. I should not envisage any debate taking place without such agreement. There will be no great problem about this matter.

On the second point, we propose in the motion that the Committee should sit on four days in a Session. But we are not bound by that. If we need five days, provision could be made for that.

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks and co-operation in reaching agreement on the motion before it came to the House.