§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I should like to ask Her Majesty's Government a further Question on Business of which I have given Private Notice. Can the Government give us some idea of what Government Business is to be in this House in 6 the future—not merely the near future of a week or two, but in the time intervening before the Whitsun vacation?
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, as I think the noble Earl is fully aware, it is not usual for Business statements to be made in this House; but in view of the fact that it has proved necessary to make a fairly substantial alteration in Business since the House adjourned for the Recess, I think I should make it clear that, subject to the agreement of the House to the Motion in the name of my noble friend the Leader of the House, it is proposed to take the Second Reading of the Criminal Procedure (Right of Reply) Bill and the Education Bill this Thursday, and to postpone the Committee stage of the Harbours Bill until Tuesday of next week. With regard to other Business, negotiations will, of course, proceed through the usual channels, and the Orders and Notices will appear on the Paper in due course.
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, we find ourselves in a very difficult position this particular year. I do not know why we should be kept in this position. It is very difficult for, say, the leader of an Opposition, whether it is this one or the one up the Gangway, with a small number of Members, who have to be properly warned in advance of speeches we want from them on important Business, largely Government Business, if we have no idea how Business is going. For the last week or so we have been trying to find out what the Business would be. I am much obliged for the information now given by the noble Earl, but it is almost impossible. We are having a debate next Thursday in which only one of the principal speakers whom I wanted to speak in that debate can be present. Others have not been able to arrange to do so. It is unfair to the House of Lords, and it seems to me that in some way or the other we are being held off in a position of uncertainty by the Government's inability to make up their mind about the future. What is going to happen to all the legislation now before the other place, unless some progress can be made in bringing it up here? We want to know where we are, and what arrangements we have to make.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I can assure the noble Earl that he will 7 obtain, through the usual channels, all the information which is available. I think he is being a little unfair in suggesting that I should announce here the programme for the next month. That has never been the practice in this House, and it certainly has never been the practice in another place. As I understand it in another place Members are never told about Business for more than a week ahead. I think the noble Earl is really asking a little too much.
EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHMy Lords, I must say that the noble Earl and I have been a long time together on these matters, and I am always happy when he is able to give us courtesies. We have often had estimates of what is going to happen regarding Business that have carried us far beyond a fortnight—three weeks or a month. I hope my noble friend the Leader of the Liberal Party also has had that advantage. It is an exceedingly difficult job to arrange for proper speeches from this side of the House unless we can have meetings on what is to be the subject of debate—to find out what it is all about, and to be able to have a proper debate. We cannot do that without the extension of full courtesy on both sides. We will do that, so far as we in the Opposition are able, and at the same time we hope we shall get it from the Government. In the meantime, why cannot the Chief Whips of both Houses get together with the Government to get them to make up their mind? I think the country is sick to death of jokes on public platforms as to what the future arrangements of the Government are going to be.
LORD REAMy Lords, perhaps the noble Earl could inform us whether he could give us a more concrete forward programme after his friend the Prime Minister has made his long-awaited statement.
§ LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETHMy Lords, surely the noble Earl the Leader of the Opposition is on a real point. I quite agree that it is not the custom in this House for the Government to announce the Business for the following week. Our procedure differs 8 from that in another place. That I accept. But, through the usual channels, privately, we are given, by courtesy of the Government, a good deal of information for about a fortnight after the current week. This information we have been seeking, and we have not got it. Can the Chief Whip say, for example, when the Police Bill and the Housing Bill are coming here?—because this situation in which we have not got this usual glimpse into the future so that arrangements can be made is somewhat unprecedented.
One appreciates that the Government have not yet made up their minds about the date of the Election. If that is the reason, perhaps the Chief Whip will be good enough to be forthcoming and say so. He might recommend the Prime Minister to read the front page leader on this subject in the Daily Mirror today, which is very good. Is the House to be rather fooled about with—because that is what is happening—because of the inability of the Prime Minister to make up his mind that he will democratically submit himself for a mandate, or the absence of a mandate, and a decision? Cannot he tell us that that is so, in order that we may be given at any rate some intelligent reason as to why this muddle exists about the future Business of this House?
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I am sure the noble Lord has enjoyed his exercise in pre-Election tactics, but I think he is asking rather a lot in expecting me to tell the House that a Bill is going to come from another place on a certain date. As all noble Lords know, we anticipate that certain things may happen, but it would be entirely wrong for me to stand up here and say that-we are going to receive the Police Bill on a certain date, until the other place has finished with it. They may decide not to finish with it when we expect them to, and I think it is asking too much to expect me to anticipate that.
EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHI did not seem to get an answer from the noble Earl to my last question. I do not know whether he wants to give one. In any case, I feel that the Houses of Parliament, and the country, are entitled to know now what Business is going to be done this summer. It affects every class of business 9 and finance in the country as well as Parliament, and yet they are all milling round wondering what they are going to do next, until a Government, whose members seem to do nothing but make speeches in the country and on the television, decide to tell us what they are going to do.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I can assure the noble Earl that I will keep him as fully informed as I possibly can, through the usual channels.