§ 2.45 p.m.
§ Lord AiredaleMy 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 what steps have been taken, since the establishment of the May Day Holiday in 1978, to ascertain (in the words of the Easter Act 1928) "any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian body" as to the desirability of fixing Easter within the first half of April.
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, the Government have consulted the authorities of the Church of England and the British Council of Churches on several occasions since May 1978. The opinions expressed by these authorities have not favoured the implementation of the Easter Act at the present time.
§ Lord AiredaleMy Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord. Nevertheless, has not the May Day Holiday created a new situation so that this year, with Easter Day on 19th April, we had four public holidays crammed into seven and a half weeks and only one public holiday between the beginning of June and December? Is it not about time that we recognised the wisdom and far-sightedness of our fathers by implementing the Act which they passed in 1928 and holding Easter during the first half of April?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I think that there is a great deal in what the noble Lord says. However, the difficulty is that the Easter Act 1928 says that regard shall be had to any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian body. There is not agreement on this particular subject. However, by a happy coincidence, Easter in 1982 will fall on Sunday 11th April, which is also the day fixed under the provisions of the Easter Act 1928.
§ Lord Montagu of BeaulieuMy Lords, would the noble Lord bear in mind that the tourist industry, the hotel and catering industry and many others concerned with consumer manufacturing would warmly welcome a fixed Easter? A varied Easter is doing considerable harm to their trade from time to time.
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I was not aware of this. However, it does not alter the fact that on this matter we must obtain the agreement of the Churches.