§ Mr. Willie W. Hamilton (Fife, Central)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, to discuss a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, "the report of the Church of England commission on urban priority areas".
The report deals with the comprehensive and catastrophic failure of Government policies in our cities in housing, in matters of poverty, taxation and employment, and in other fields.
The whole nation should thank the established Church of England for its objective investigation into the problems of our inner cities, and not least for its condemnation of the divisive and manifestly unfair housing policies pursued in the past six years. This highly objective report was undermined—
§ Mr. HamiltonThe hon. Gentleman should learn that he cannot intervene on a motion of this kind.
I was about to say that the report underlines and supports two opinions expressed by royal princes, Prince Philip and Prince Charles, on the very matters that I have raised.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman knows that we do not bring members of the Royal Family into our arguments in this place.
§ Mr. HamiltonI understand that, Mr. Speaker. I think the House is well aware of the point to which I am referring.
No one can doubt that the problems referred to are specific and manifold. They are laid out in detail in The Times today, and effectively reply to the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow), who attempted to intervene. The Government were given advance copies of the report as a matter of courtesy, and with typical arrogance, brutality and intolerance they decided to jump the gun and to savage and rubbish the report before its official appearance tomorrow. The Government's response to the report is as damaging and as offensive as their reponse to the Duke of Edinburgh's report on the same matter. The Government's response is to savage the messenger rather than the policies on which the commission commented.
26 That all the matters referred to in the report are urgent cannot be in dispute. On every day that passes the decay in our inner cities goes on remorselessly, and it is there for everybody to see, except those who refuse to see it—the Ministers concerned. The decline and decay are worrying to everyone in the country, excpet Ministers. The Government are flying in the face of reality and of all the evidence that is available to every hon. Member, whatever his or her constituency.
It is rather significant that The Times reports today that "Government reaction"—
that is, to the report—
now appears to be in marked contrast to the high level of co-operation the commission received from Government Departments, five of which submitted evidence.That is sufficient condemnation of the Government in round terms.I suspect, Mr. Speaker, that you will refuse my request, on the ground that the criticism of the Government is so comprehensive as to be encompassed in a future debate—an inquest into the failure of the Government in the past six years in all the matters to which I have referred. Nevertheless I ask you to enable us to debate the report as a matter of urgency, because it will not go away. There are bound to be some debates on it in the course of the next few months.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
the report from the Church of England concerning the failure of the Government's inner city and housing policies.In his concluding statement the hon. Gentleman said that he thought there would be many debates on the matter in the future. I have listened to what he has said, but I regret that I do not consider the matter that he has raised to be appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10 and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.