Many hon. Members on this side of the House, and, I am sure, on the benches opposite, too, clearly understood that these discussions between the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend would be confined to the decision to be taken in relation to matters affecting the security of the State, and whether such information should or should not be communicated to right hon. and hon. Members. If there is even the slightest suggestion that matters other than those relating strictly to the security of the State are not to be communicated to right hon. and hon. Members, I hope that this will be repudiated by the vast majority of right hon. and hon. Members.
We need an assurance from the Leader of the House that there is no question of changing in any way the established convention that only matters relating to State security are excluded, but I go further and say that if there is any suggestion that other matters might not be communicated to the House, I would not be in favour of my right hon. Friend discussing the matter with the Prime Minister at any time.
Mr. Speaker Order. I do not think that it would matter for the purpose of whether this House should adjourn or not whether the hon. Member would be in favour of his right hon. Friend doing that, or not doing it.
Mr. Mendelson With respect. Mr. Speaker, I would be far less alarmed about the precise nature of these consultations, and the final decision on what is to be excluded from the report, if the House were sitting, when questions could be put to the Prime Minister on this matter.
However, I pass to the second reason why we need a firm assurance from the right hon. Gentleman about the Government's intentions with regard to the publication of the Denning report. If the report is received during the Recess, and the Prime Minister then decides to publish part of it, he may also decide shortly afterwards to advise the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament. If that were to happen, the House might never have an opportunity of considering the Denning report, and such a situation could lead to considerable controversy. As is well known, this is a matter which concerns the general public and all hon. Members, because in their constituencies they have been asked many questions on this subject.
I have always been in favour of getting at the facts and letting the people in the constituencies know them as soon as possible. It should be made clear beyond peradventure that the Government have an equal interest in seeing that this report is not only read by the people who want to read it, but that there is an opportunity of debating it in the House. I shall, therefore, not support the Motion unless the Leader of the House informs us of the Government's intentions in this matter.
On previous occasions the Leader of the House has said, quite rightly, that if a situation arose which led to a request being made for the recall of Parliament such a request would be considered, but the House knows that if only a certain number of hon. Members demand a recall the Government are not obliged to act on that request, It is clear that on this matter of the Denning report the Government have a special obligation. This is not a matter which cannot be foreseen. The Government are probably well aware of what is going to happen, and must have made their plans accordingly. I therefore submit that there is a special obligation of the Government to ensure that Parliament is recalled if, after the publication of the report, they decide that Parliament should be dissolved, and it is the bounden duty of the right hon. Gentleman to give us an assurance that this will be done.
4.18 p.m.
Mr. S. O. Davies (Merthyr Tydfil) Having regard to the series of most urgent problems relating to Wales that were raised during the debate yesterday, and the profoundly unsatisfactory replies given by the Government to the appeals made by my hon. Friends, I shall oppose the Motion. The idea of being away from here for nearly three months without a reminder being given to Ministers of the urgent and difficult problems confronting us in Wales today is completely out of the question.
