HC Deb 17 July 1946 vol 425 c229W
158. Mr. Pritt

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will amend Section 13 (3) of the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council, 1946, to make it correspond with previous law and with the recommendation of the Soulbury Commission, instead of providing, as it does at present, that practically every person sentenced to even a short term of imprisonment anywhere in the Empire, even for purely political offences, shall be disqualified for seven years after the service of the sentence from sitting in either House of the Parliament.

Mr. Creech Jones

No, Sir. This provision was most carefully considered both in Ceylon and here when the Order in Council was being drafted. The seven-year period of disqualification was proposed in the scheme submitted by the Ceylon Ministers for the revision of the Constitution, and the Order as drafted follows in this respect what the Secretary of State was advised was intended by the Soulbury Commission.