Orders of the Day — NORTHERN IRELAND BILL [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 May 1962.

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Photo of Mr Donald Wade Mr Donald Wade , Huddersfield West 12:00, 1 May 1962

The hon. and gallant Member for Down, South (Captain Orr), at the beginning of his remarks, referred to the subject of consultation with the people of Northern Ireland prior to introducing legislation of this nature. It was not my intention to talk about proportional representation, but, if the people of Northern Ireland were represented in this House by some method of proportional representation, so that we could be satisfied that all shades of opinion were adequately represented, I should feel happier about accepting the view which he expressed. I will return in a few moments to the subject of consultation with the people of Northern Ireland.

At first sight, the Bill would seem to be primarily concerned with the administration of justice. However, on examination, I think it is clear that it raises some matters of constitutional importance. I do not suggest for a moment that the administration of justice is not very important, but a distinction can be made between legislation dealing with the administration of justice and legislation which involves constitutional changes.

The Solicitor-General pointed out that the Bill was divided into three parts: the administration of justice, the enlargement of legislative powers with regard to matters not relating to the Supreme Court, and miscellaneous provisions. Another breakdown would be to point out that the first twelve Clauses deal with the judiciary, while Clauses 13, 14 and 15 have no direct bearing on the judiciary, but are concerned really with town planning involving constitutional considerations. I should have thought that it might have been wiser to have two separate Bills, but I merely put that forward as my own point of view.

I do not propose to discuss every Clause in the Bill. I should be very unpopular if I were to do so. I hope that the Solicitor-General, or Minister who winds up the debate, will reply to the inquiry as to why the right of appeal to the House of Lords is to be limited.

On Clause 8, which sets up the Supreme Court Rules Committee, I notice that the Lord Chief Justice is to be Chairman of the Committee and that The powers of the committee may be exercised by the chairman thereof and not less than four other members thereof of whom two are judges of the Supreme Court. It would seem to follow that three members out of five may be judges, which, I should have thought, was rather overloading the Committee with judges.

May I say, in passing, that I welcome Clause 17, which gives power to pass laws to prevent unnecessary suffering to horses exported from Northern Ireland?

My main object in rising is to direct certain observations specifically to Clauses 13 and 14. By these Clauses Amendments are introduced to the Northern Ireland constitution, and particular reference is made to Section 5 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and to Article 16 of the Articles of Agreement of the treaty between Great Britain and Ireland.