Debate on the Address

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 October 1968.

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Photo of Mr John Lee Mr John Lee , Reading 12:00, 30 October 1968

Although I see my hon. Friend's point, I do not agree with him. The answer is in a much stricter control of expenditure at elections. The reason why American elections are the indecent carnivals that they are is the lack of restriction on the amount of money which can be spent on promoting the candidature of each candidate. My suggestion would do much to take away the frustrations to an Opposition that can arise and which arose towards the end of the long period of Conservative rule, a period in continuous office longer than any party has ever enjoyed since the Reform Act. One wonders, if there had been no "Profumo affair" and if the Conservatives had been returned in 1964, whether the whole idea of Parliamentary democracy might have turned sour.

If I make that concession, that the party in Government should be prepared to forgo the advantage and now to fix the date of the next election as part of a new Parliament Act, I think it would be a reasonable act of reciprocity if the Conservatives were to agree to a written constitution which entrenched existing nationalised industries and protected them from the constitutional effects that are involved. It may be very difficult. The present Government are not markedly enthusiastic about nationalisation; they are less so than were the Attlee Government. They spend far more money on subsidising private industry and far less on setting up statutory corporations, of the kind we had immediately after the war. From that point of view it will not be a great sacrifice, but at least it would help to remove a constitutional impasse which does no credit to democracy at the moment.

There are many other constitutional aspects which have given rise to anxiety, and several of my hon. Friends will want to know what is in store for Northern Ireland. If there is not much in store, there will be a great deal of restlessness on the back benches on this side, but even the importance of Northern Ireland and our responsibility to it is of secondary importance to the problem which I have put before the House.