Mr Sydney Irving: Has my right hon. Friend been able to consider a letter from both sides of the paper industry concerning the tariff cuts demanded of the EEC by the Americans in the present round of GATT negotiations in Brussels? Will he find time to use his influence to ensure that the success enjoyed by British manufacturers of kraft lined paper is not prejudiced by the EEC giving unnecessary concessions in...
Mr Sydney Irving: I congratulate the right hon. and learned Member for Huntingdonshire (Sir D. Renton) and the Committee on their Trojan effort. There can be few Committees which have worked as hard, met as many times and produced as many recommendations as this one. I believe that many of its 76 recommendations will be widely accepted on both sides of the House and will contribute to the more effective...
Mr Sydney Irving: That is correct, but it is of a limited kind, established for a small number of right hon. and hon. Members, and it does not involve, as these recommendations will, a very large body of the Back Bench strength on both sides of the House.
Mr Sydney Irving: If my hon. Friend will allow me to develop my argument, he will find that I shall come to that. I believe that there would need to be a willingness on the part of hon. Members not just to specialise but to devote a great deal of time to doing it, otherwise Committees across the whole spectrum would not succeed. It would also mean the end of the role of the Back Bencher as an all-rounder,...
Mr Sydney Irving: My hon. Friend discards the one most powerful example.
Mr Sydney Irving: The point remains intact that it is a specialised system, unlike our own. We are moving to a very different system, and we ought to be quite clear about where we are going. There is a risk of some of these Committees—not all of them; there are certain hon. Members who are never likely to fall to this risk—becoming so intimately involved with their Departments that their power to attack,...
Mr Sydney Irving: I accept part of the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Farnworth (Mr. Roper). However, I imagine that the point applies to other cases—for example, to the Home Office and foreign affairs in some respects. An hon. Member would have to specialise in one area of activity which would preclude him from many others. In 1964 there were 240 Committee sittings. By 1977 this figure had...
Mr Sydney Irving: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, West (Mr. English) will make his own speech. He and I have been involved in many Committees in the past and have carried a considerable burden—as have many other hon. Members. It is only fair to reiterate the point that full-time Members and some part-timers, who flog themselves very hard, have carried an unnecessary burden...
Mr Sydney Irving: My hon. Friend is conceding the point, but it has not yet been demonstrated that there are enough willing Members who are prepared to specialise and devote the time to an across-the-board experiment of this kind.
Mr Sydney Irving: I still believe that if the whole system were redesigned with 12 new Committees with a heavier work load than at present, the pattern would be different. Many Committees now find great difficulty in getting a big enough attendance to keep going satisfactorily.
Mr Sydney Irving: The hon. Gentleman places me in difficulty. I feel that 10 Members are wholly inadequate to deal with a great Department. I cannot see how adequate attendance would ever be achieved if there are to be only 10 members. On a number of occasions I suspect that Committees will find it difficult to proceed because they do not have quorums. The report suggests that the Committee, and particularly...
Mr Sydney Irving: My inclination is to go for a separate set of Select Committees which are independent of Departments but which have adequate money, staff and accommodation to provide the information they need to enable themselves to speak directly and on equal terms with the Executive. I believe that in the end that will be the only way in which the challenge can be made. I accept that the power of the...
Mr Sydney Irving: I have not in any sense said that there is not a place for an experiment in Departmental Committees. In view of the work that has been put in by the members of the Committee, it would be most unfair of anyone to condemn out of hand the proposals that have been made. I believe that we should move in an evolutionary way and not abandon everything that we have done over the past few years to an...
Mr Sydney Irving: I hope that the fact that the Committee has included this recommendation in its report will not lend support to those who would shackle the processes of government in their dealings with the Community. I want Ministers to keep this House informed, but I do not want an essential departure from the procedure that has been adopted in domestic affairs where the Minister has some latitude and is...
Mr Sydney Irving: Does the hon. Gentleman accept the point that if these are to work, the degree of specialisation will be greater than ever before? That automatically precludes Members from doing many of the things that they have been doing up to now.
Mr Sydney Irving: Whatever the timetable, will my right hon. Friend ensure that the Darenth barrier is completed before the Thames barrier becomes operational in order to prevent my constituents from being flooded out by the backwash from the Thames barrier?
Mr Sydney Irving: Will my hon. Friend accept that the present system places a heavy burden on families, particularly when they have children in secondary schools who have just under three miles to travel and primary school children with just under two miles to travel? Will she renew her efforts to obtain some settlement between local authorities and the Government to give some relief to those families?
Mr Sydney Irving: My right hon. Friend points to the difficulties, but does he realise that in establishing a code for picketing there were difficulties there, and that it is even more imperative that, where human life is at risk we establish with the unions a code of conduct to avoid the distressing circumstances that have occurred over the last two or three weeks?
Mr Sydney Irving: Does my hon. Friend accept that the construction of the Channel tunnel would relieve London and perhaps other cities of much of this heavy lorry traffic? What discussions has he had about this matter?
Mr Sydney Irving: Does the right hon. Gentleman believe that there is another principle involved which has not been conceded? We are having Select Committees adopting a renewed vigour in challenging the Executive. It is true that there is a budget—I happen to be a member of the Liaison Committee mentioned by the right hon. Gentleman—but it is largely determined by the Government. Therefore, the Government...
