§ 30. Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Lord President of the Council if he will ask the Lord Chamberlain to join him in a feasibility study of possible extended use of Westminster Hall.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Sir Geoffrey Howe)Although I am not necessarily opposed to such a study, it would be inappropriate for it to be commissioned in the manner suggested.
As I advised the hon. Member on 5 February, if he has a specific proposal he should in the first instance raise it with the Accommodation and Administration Sub-Committee.
§ Mr. BanksI have many proposals, and so has every other Member of this place. The right hon. and learned Gentleman knows that in earlier centuries Westminster Hall was always humming with life. It was one of the great public centres of London. It is a criminal waste of space to have the Hall so empty. Why cannot the right hon. and learned Gentleman produce some ideas? We could use the place for shops, restaurants or exhibitions. It could be used for many different things. Why does not the right hon. and 884 learned Gentleman use his imagination? If he let it run riot for a few seconds, he would come up with many exciting ideas for the use of Westminster Hall.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing his imagination to run riot. He knows that times have changed since the law courts moved from Westminster Hall to the Strand and since the other functions that used to take place in the Hall ceased. It is now used for a limited number of ceremonial occasions. At least one of my predecessors—my right hon. Friend the Member for Shropshire, North (Mr. Biffen)—said that part of the attraction of Westminster Hall lies in the fact that it is little used and little congested, which makes some impression on visitors who first arrive here.
§ Mr. ConwayIs my right hon. and learned Friend aware that coach parties, especially those travelling a long distance from Shrewsbury, for example, have to start early in the morning and, when they arrive at the House, must queue at the House of Lords entrance, often in poor weather? Is it a demoralising start to a visit to the Palace of Westminster. I hope that my right hon. and learned Friend will take heed of calls from hon. Members on both sides of the House to find a better way to enable constituents especially to enter the Palace than through the Norman Porch entrance.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI am aware of the difficulty to which my hon. Friend draws attention. As I have told the House several times, arrangements have been agreed to improve the facilities at the Norman Porch entrance and to accelerate access to the line of route for visitors. There is a limit to the amount of additional space that can be made available at this end of the Palace.
§ Dr. CunninghamThere is no better example of the problem than today, when there is a long queue of people standing in heavy rain waiting to gain access to the House. Those people could easily be accommodated, at least temporarily, in Westminster Hall. It is medieval to expect people coming from Scotland, Wales or the north of England to stand in the rain to gain access to the mother of Parliaments. The mother of Parliament's skirts are showing a little and she needs sprucing up.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe House has sympathy with the hon. Gentleman's point. One reason why specific arrangements have been proposed for access through the Sovereign's entrance, which will be implemented within a reasonably short time, is that they will make a significant improvement to the facilities, especially for people who have to wait in bad weather.