§ 2.40 p.m.
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, with the leave of the House I should like to repeat a Statement which is being made by the Prime Minister in another place. The Prime Minister's Statement reads as follows:
"The Report of the Royal Commission on the Constitution has been formally presented to Parliament and copies are now available in the Vote Office.
"It is a substantial Report which examines a number of complex and interrelated issues of major political, constitutional and practical importance. The Government is indebted to the Commission for the efforts they have devoted to their work over such a long period of time. All the members of the Commission deserve the gratitude of the House, but I should like to mention in particular Lord Kilbrandon who assumed chairmanship of the Commission after the death of Lord Crowther last year.
"The Commission had very wide terms of reference and their Report covers a great deal of ground where judgments which are essentially political will be required before final decisions are reached. Many differing points of view were put to the Commission on what should be the appropriate 34 constitutional and economic relationships between the different parts of the United Kingdom. In these circumstances it is not perhaps surprising that the members of the Commission have not found themselves able to make unanimous recommendations. There is a Minority Report signed by two members; and the Majority Report, though it expresses agreement on the analysis of the underlying problems and of the nature of the possible solutions, does not arrive at unanimous recommendations. This, however, does not detract from the value of the Report as a contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the issues involved.
"The Commission, rightly in my view, expect their Report to lead to a public debate in which the various solutions they identified can be examined. The Government believe that there should be the widest possible public discussion before any decisions are taken on issues which affect so fundamentally the way in which our country is governed.
"The Report also deals with the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The Commission's recommendations on this subject will be considered in consultation with the governments of those territories"
My Lords, that concludes the Prime Minister's Statement.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, we are grateful to the noble Lord the Leader of the House for repeating the Statement. When he said that it is likely to lead to debate, I should have thought that one of the under-statements of the year. I do not propose to start that debate now when we have here so many speakers on subjects which are not concerned with the internal organisation of the United Kingdom. It is interesting to note that the Minority Memorandum of Dissent is half the size of the main Report, which itself is fairly bulky. Two Members of your Lordships' House were members of the Committee—or, rather, three; I did a very hasty count. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Foot, and my noble friend Lord Crowther-Hunt were members, and of course the late Lord Crowther was, from all accounts, such a valuable chairman 35 of the Commission and made a great contribution. It is noteworthy that Lord Foot appears to have signed the Majority Report, and Lord Crowther-Hunt the Memorandum of Dissent. So I think we have all the promise for a very important debate on a subject upon which discussion will continue for a long while. I hope we can have a debate upon it soon, but I do not propose to attempt to discuss now the issues contained within the Report, although I think the Report will be compulsory reading for everyone.
§ LORD WADEMy Lords, I should like to join in thanking the noble Lord the Leader of the House for repeating this Statement. Obviously, we have not yet had an opportunity of studying carefully the Report of the Royal Commission. I would join in expressing our indebtedness to the members of the Commission, and in particular of course Lord Kilbrandon. I agree that this matter will require the widest possible public discussion over a considerable period of time. I wonder whether, looking backwards, the noble Lord. Lord Windlesham, would agree that it might have been better if we had had this Report first and reorganisation of local government afterwards.
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I am grateful for what both noble Lords have said. Clearly, a Report of this size, coming after a period of three and a half years, requires very careful study. To the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition I would say that I was referring to three Members of this House: the noble Lords, Lord Kilbrandon, Lord Foot and Lord Crowther-Hunt, who have made such a substantial contribution to the Report. I am sure that there will be a wide public debate, and we shall welcome hearing in due course from Members of the House who were members of the Commission.