5. Mr. J. Enoch Powellasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will relax his rules governing houses purchasd by Housing Executive tenants when the owners are advised to move on security grounds and are assisted forom public funds in doing so.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. David Mitchell)The right hon. Member has written to me recently and I am urgently reviewing the position.
Mr. PowellIs the hon. Gentleman aware that his assiduity in attending to the needs and wishes of the people of Northern Ireland within the sphere of his departmental responsibility has been noted widely and will be long remembered? In respect of the subject of this question, does he not accept that it is an anomaly that the state should, on one hand, advise a person to quit his home prematurely and, on the other, rule that those circumstances cannot be taken into account if he has purchased that house from the Housing Executive?
§ Mr. MitchellThere are a number of implications in this concession that I am having examined as quickly as possible. I am not unsympathetic to the view expressd by the right hon. Gentleman.