Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 (Hansard, 20 December 1982)

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (The Earl of Cowrie)
My Lords, I beg to move that the draft Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, which was laid before the House on 23rd November this year, be approved. In so doing, I welcome back from hospital and on to the Front Bench the noble Lord, Lord Underhill. He has come from a more comfortable bed than the one he will find in dealing with Northern Ireland affairs, but we are very glad to see him back.
The purpose of this draft order is to give effect without modification to the recommendations made by the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland in their Third Periodical Report on Parliamentary Constituencies submitted to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 27th October. It also gives effect without modification to the recommendations made in their First Supplementary Report on the number of Members to be returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly by each of those constituencies.
In accordance with the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1979, the commission's main report recommends 17 constituencies to replace the present 12 constituencies in Northern Ireland. The content of the new constituencies and whether they are to be county or borough constituencies is set out in the schedule to the draft order.
The First Supplementary Report recommends that each of the new 17 parliamentary constituencies should return 5 Members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Article 3 of the draft order amends the Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1973 so as to increase the number of Members from 78 to 85. The article also amends the schedule to the Act by substituting the names of the new constituencies for those of the existing constituencies and by setting out the number of Members to be returned by each constituency.
The changes made by this draft order to the parliamentary constituencies will only have effect from the next parliamentary general election and do not affect the present constitution of the House of Commons. Similarly, the changes to the Northern Ireland Assembly will have effect from the next general election to the Assembly and do not affect the constitution of the present body.
The Government believe that, in arriving at their recommendations, which are now incorporated in this draft order, the commission complied fully with the requirements of Section 1 of the House of Commons 862 (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1979 and of Section 28 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. We are satisfied that all interested persons and organisations in Northern Ireland were given ample opportunity to make representations to the commission and to local inquiries concerning the commission's recommendations. I therefore commend the draft order to the House.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, may I first thank the noble Earl for his kind personal references and express the regret I have at dealing with Northern Ireland matters in addition to transport responsibilities, because I am certain your Lordships will share my appreciation of the work of my noble friend Lord Blease over so many years. His work on behalf of Northern Ireland is very much appreciated.
There are certainly no reasons why we should not approve this order which has been explained by the noble Earl. As he rightly says, it carries out the recommendations of the Speaker's Conference. It carries out the approval of Parliament in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1979 and, as he rightly says, the commission made clear in its report that it held local inquiries at which representations were made. I noted in particular paragraph 45 of the commission's report, which dismissed the representations made on political grounds, when it was said that those representations played no part whatever in the deliberations of the Boundary Commission. As regards the proposals for Assembly seats, the order strictly follows the points laid down by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1979. We approve the order which is now before the House.

§ Lord Hampton
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl the Minister for his introduction of this order. It seems to be a logical follow-up to increase the number of Westminster seats for Ulster Members of Parliament. We support the order.

§ Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge
My Lords, I have nothing to add to what has been said, beyond indicating how pleased I am to see my old friend Lord Underhill, who will be a sensible interpreter of the rather obscure Labour Party policy.

§ Lord Monson
My Lords, I join other noble Lords in extending a warm welcome to this order. At long last—after many years, indeed decades—Northern Ireland is to have the fair representation at Westminster to which she has been morally entitled. It would have been fairer still if the Province had been granted the same proportionate representation as Scotland, with which it shares so many of the problems of geographical remoteness, declining heavy industries and so on. But perhaps this is not the moment for such quibbles. The important point is that more numerous but smaller constituencies will enable Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland to devote even more time to the problems of their individual constituents than they do at present. Equally, it will enable them to devote more time and attention to the wider problems of the United Kingdom as a whole.
863 The most important aspect of all, however, is perhaps psychological. Treating Northern Ireland like any other part of the United Kingdom so far as parliamentary repesentation is concerned will help to weld the Kingdom more closely together, an outcome which all patriotic people must desire. If this had been done 60 years ago, a great deal—not all, admittedly, but a great deal—of the subsequent tension and strife might have been avoided.