Spectator's Notebook
CAN understand Mrs. Jeger's disappointment Ithat Mr. Sydney Silverman's Bill to abolish hanging did not complete the report stage, let alone get a third reading, last Friday, but her fire is misdirected. It is the Government and not the opponents of the Bill who are responsible.
In the Guardian on Tuesday of this week, Mrs. Jeger writes that 'the hangers have been ingenious, resourceful, inexhaustible.' Why should they not be? Why should they not be as sincere in their convictions as Mrs. Jeger and myself? Why should they not use the procedures of the House of Commons? For myself, I voted for the principle of the Bill on second reading, but before then and since then I have protested that the Government were treating the House of Commons with contempt. This Bill in practice has 'been given government time and it is ap- proved by the Government. If it did not intend to provide enough government time to see it through to the statute book, it should never have promised time for the second reading. It should never have resorted to the clumsy device of Wednesday morning sittings. It should in the last resort have been prepared (grim thought) to apply a 'guillotine' to the Abolition of Death Penalty Bill. It pays the penalty now. Its pro- gramme is in chaos and yet this Bill can surely not now be left as it is. It is already doubtful whether the Home Secretary is acting in a con- stitutional manner in automatically granting re- prieves. And the position would become indefen= sible if it became clear that the Bill bad perished for lack of time—which means government time.
No one could reasonably have expected to obtain both the report stage and third reading of a controversial constitutional Bill in the five hours' debate which is all that a• Friday sitting provides. There is, of course, a majority in the House of Commons for the Bill, but a Private Member's Bill stands little chance against strong opposition. The Government will now look foolish whatever it does, but its wisest course is to admit its error and find government time.
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