§ Lord CLIFFORD of CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal that the Home Secretary acted unlawfully in revoking television licences and bearing in mind the constitutional principle that all Her Majesty's subjects shall be treated equally before the law, they will give an assurance that the costs of the plaintiff will be borne by those responsible for the unlawful action and not by the taxpayer.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)My Lords, the costs of the legal action in the case of Congreve v. Home Office will be met from public funds, as is usual in cases of this kind.
§ Lord CLIFFORD of CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. May I ask him whether or not his Answer gives locus standi to the taxpayer in the absence of an act of indemnity to relate an action of declaratory judgment to the Attorney General and that the Attorney General no longer has absolute discretion, free of appeal, over whether or not he must accept such a relation, unlike the time when a previous Home Secretary patently broke the law by not laying the boundary orders as required by the Redistribution of Seats Act?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, I do not pretend to have followed all the points made by the noble Lord. All I can say is that the procedure which will be followed in this case will be exactly similar to that followed in previous cases.
§ Lord HAILSHAM of SAINT MARYLEBONEMy Lords, quite apart from the question of costs, which is a relatively trivial matter, will the Government give an assurance that they have learned their lesson from the decision of the Court of Appeal in this case?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, the Home Secretary expressed apologies to another place, which was prepared to leave the matter there, and I am sure that the noble Lord will do so also.
Lord PAGET of NORTHAMPTONMy Lords, surely it would be only a Fascist Government which always expected to win?
§ Lord CLIFFORD of CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that a very large proportion of the over-burdened people of this country are increasingly perturbed by the extra taxes, rates, fees and civil servants who are being imposed upon them without the blessing of legality—for example, sewerage rates on the unconnected—and will the Government do something about it?
§ The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Lord Shepherd)My Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord would remember that we have a custom regarding the reading of questions. If questions are highly technical it can be forgiven. I hope that the noble Lord will bear that rule in mind.