Northern Ireland (Government)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:15 pm on 29 November 1979.

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Photo of Douglas Hogg Douglas Hogg , Grantham 8:15, 29 November 1979

No, I will not give way. We have already had five or six guest appearances from the hon. Member for West Lothian. I do not propose to indulge him again. If we have to look at devolution again, I would greatly prefer to see any devolution for Northern Ireland given in the context of an overall constitutional package rather than in a particular measure given at this time on an ad hoc basis.

Many hon. Members have appealed to the SDLP and to the Official Unionist Party to attend this conference. To the members of the Official Unionist Party, I simply make this observation: they are, by history and by tradition, the heirs, the allies and the friends of the Conservative Party. On the essential issue of the Union we support them. We are prepared to pledge both money and troops in order to protect the Union. In return, we expect some co-operation from them. We ask, in particular, that they should be prepared to sit down and see whether they can identify common areas for agreement.

The right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell) asked whether I would expect the Front Benches of both parties to "go into a huddle", to use his phrase. The answer to that question is "Generally, no", but on matters of constitutional change the answer is "Yes". The considerations are wholly and absolutely different. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will bear in mind that we are talking not about trivial policies but about constitutional change.

I welcome the proposal that the Secretary of State has brought forward. I welcome the contents of the working paper. I do not expect any overall settlement to emerge from these talks, but I do believe that some common grounds might be ascertained and identified from which agreement might emerge in the future. This is not an opportunity to be thrown away. Those who neglect it or, having grasped it, misuse it will not be readily forgiven, in this place or elsewhere.