HC Deb 28 January 1982 vol 16 cc996-7
13. Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he proposes to bring forward proposals to reform local government in Northern Ireland in order to make it more effective and meaningful.

Mr. Prior

As I told the House on 29 October, this is an issue on which I must tread cautiously. It must be considered in the light of the growing desire in the Northern Ireland political parties for some form of devolved administration for the Province as a whole.

Mr. Winterton

I am grateful for my right hon. Friend's response and for the initiatives that he is taking in Ulster, but does he agree that urgent progress is required if the people of Northern Ireland are to have any trust in the Government's integrity? Does he further agree that the best form of progress would be to restore to the people of Northern Ireland effective and meaningful local government in which those who are elected are accountable to the people whom they represent for the decisions that they take?

Mr. Prior

I appreciate my hon. Friend's point, but he will know that it is not possible to treat Northern Ireland exactly like any other part of the United Kingdom. That is precisely, the argument about local government. We should, of course, like to see more powers restored to local government, but a number of questions have arisen about the attitude of local government itself to the minority communities. I believe that it is better to seek to restore a level of devolved administration to the Province as a whole. That would then make it more possible for further powers to be restored to local government.

Mr. Stephen Ross

Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that Liberal Members believe that his priorities are right and that he should not restore powers to local government before he has dealt with the question of overall administration? But will he ask his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment to restore powers to local government in England that the Government are busy taking away?

Mr. Prior

I have enough problems in Northern Ireland without worrying too much about England at the moment.

Mr. Stanbrook

Is it not clear from what we know already that devolution in Northern Ireland will serve only to intensify the differences among the people there? What excuse can there possibly be for the Government not to introduce the one missing element—an upper tier of local government—and thus give the people of Northern Ireland the benefits of the system of Government that the rest of us enjoy?

Mr. Prior

The reason is that, regrettably, it would merely intensify the problems that already exist. If I am to achieve any solution—and goodness knows that is hard enough—to the problem of trying to bring the people together, it would be senseless to pursue something that I am already told in no uncertain terms would have the reverse effect.