HC Deb 13 June 1991 vol 192 cc1033-4
10. Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what representations he has received from the Conservative party in Northern Ireland regarding the talks on the future of the Province.

Mr. Brooke

Since my statement to the House on 26 March 1991, I have received one letter from the Northern Ireland Conservative area council regarding the current talks process. I am grateful for the message of support which it contained.

I have also received three letters from individuals living in Northern Ireland who identified themselves as members of the Conservative party.

Mrs. Gorman

Will my right hon. Friend be adopting, as I am sure that he will with his ministerial colleagues, the role of honest, and therefore neutral, broker at the talks? Will he assure Conservatives in Northern Ireland that the Government's view include those expressed recently by our party chairman, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bath and Wells, who said that the best way for the people of Northern Ireland to ensure that Northern Ireland Ministers in a Conservative Government reflect their views is for the Northern Ireland electorate to elect them themselves? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that he would welcome the election of Conservatives from Northern Ireland to the House to join their colleagues from other parts of the United Kingdom?

Mr. Brooke

I do not know the context in which the chairman of the Conservative party was speaking. In passing, I should perhaps point out that we have a bishop of Bath and Wells and a Member of Parliament for Bath and a Member of Parliament for Wells. If my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative party were to say that he thought that it would be best if every constituency in the kingdom were represented by a Conservative, how could a former chairman possibly disagree?

Mr. William Ross

Since the East Londonderry Conservative Association has sacked its candidate because he agreed with Government policy, would the Secretary of State advise that constitutency association to pick a candidate who agreed with the opinions of the local party or someone who agreed with him?

Mr. Brooke

The hon. Gentleman knows as well as I do that in the 650 constituencies that make up this nation, odd things occasionally happen.

Rev. Ian Paisley

As the right hon. Gentleman has made it clear to those attending the talks at Stormont that every bit of representation made will be tabled at the talks and that if delegates want to discuss what is tabled, they can, will he see to it that this large number of letters from the vast amount of support that the Conservative party has in Northern Ireland will be available to us all, so that we can read this interesting information?

Mr. Brooke

The fact that there were only three letters means that the exercise for me in verifying whether they were confidential and for the hon. Gentleman in reading them will not be a major matter for either of us.

Mr. Harry Barnes

Does the Secretary of State agree that any signs of unity among political parties in Northern Ireland should be nurtured? Therefore, should not the Conservative party remove its support for electricity privatisation?

Mr. Brooke

The hon. Gentleman is taking us slightly outside the original question. He draws attention to the fact that political parties in Northern Ireland, other than the Conservative party, have opposed Northern Ireland Electricity privatisation, just as they opposed privatisation of Short Brothers. Given what has happened since that privatisation, they might conceivably regret that they originally opposed it.