Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 March 1979.
Mr George Cunningham
, Islington South and Finsbury
12:00,
21 March 1979
I am most grateful for the remarks that my right hon. Friend has just made. He will understand that if in a year's time the Government were to decide that they wanted to drop this provision, it would be done in the renewal order and there would be no procedural way by which the House could countermand it. May I direct to his attention and to the attention of the Home Office the possibility that if that were to be tried there should be a motion on the Order Paper on that day which could be separately debated, so that the House could decide whether or not that provision was to be dropped? I am not sure how exactly this could be done, but I ask my right hon. Friend not to deprive the House of the opportunity of deciding whether that provision should be dropped, since, as he said, it was the House that decided that it should be put on the statute book.
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