§ Mr. George CunninghamOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I regret that I must trouble you and the House with this point of order at this time. I do so briefly. It relates to the important matter of the relations between Back Bench Members and Front Bench Members. It is important to raise the matter now. It must be taken account of from the beginning of the next Parliament. I shall do so at this controversial time. No blame attaches to either Front Bench, although it turns out that Front Bench Members have acted illegally, if entirely innocently, for the past 28 years.
Browsing through the Manual of Procedure, I came across article 334, on page 226. It relates to the delegation to the Council of Europe. The delegation to the European Parliament is appointed by a motion of this House, but the delegation to the Council of Europe has been purported to be appointed by successive parties, by the Executive, and not by any motion of the House.
The Manual of Procedure says:
Article 25 of the Statute of the Council of Europe "—that is, the international treaty that set it up—signed in 1949, provides that the Consultative Assembly is to consist of representatives of member states elected by the several national Parliaments or appointed in such manner as those Parliaments direct.A similar but much less accurate version appears on page 847 of that much overrated book"Erskine May". When I read that, I asked the Clerk of the House to do some research and find out when the House was so unwise as to authorise the Executive to make these appointments instead of doing the job itself. When the report came in, it turned out that the House had never done anything of the kind.It follows that for the last 28 years, under successive parties, and in recent years entirely innocently, because people were doing what was done last time—always a mistake—we have been trying to appoint these delegations. However, they have not been legally appointed. I have to raise the point and leave it like that because it is quite clear in the light 1182 of the facts that in the next Parliament either the delegation to the Council of Europe will have to be appointed by a motion of this House or there will have to be a motion of this House—and I hope the House would not dream of passing such a motion—which permits the Executive to make the appointment.
I hope, Mr. Speaker, that although this matter is not one on which you will wish to take the initiative, you will agree that it is important that the rights of this House should be protected, especially when they are enshrined in an international treaty.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman gave me notice of his point of order. I have to say to him that I believe that he has raised a very important question, but it is not one for me to resolve. He knows that he must pursue the matter with those who are responsible on the Front Bench. It is not a matter for me.