PARLIAMENT RECALL CONSIDERED OVER TALKS CRISIS

LEADER of the House of Commons, Robin Cook has told his peers in the House of Common that there is an “option” of recalling the Westminster parliament during its summer break over the crisis in Northern Ireland.

In reply to Paul Tyler, MP for North Cornwall, who had raised the issue on Thursday 19 July, Mr Cook said: “Obviously, if there is a serious situation in Northern Ireland, the recall of Parliament is an option for the Government, and Members can call for it.”

The Westminster parliament rises on Friday and will be adjourned for the summer until October 15. The House of Lords rises on Tuesday 24 July and also resumes on October 15.

However, during Thursday’s session, the British government came under fire from MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, Eric Forth, who criticised Tony Blair for not giving a statement to the house following peace talks at Weston Park last week. Mr Forth fired a barrage of questions relating to the apparent absence of such a statement, and said: “Does it not seem odd, even to the Leader of the House, that there were protracted crisis talks last week but the House of Commons has not been informed of where we are, where we are going, what is going on, who said what and what the Government expect to happen?” Mr Forth went on to ask if the Prime Minister would give an emergency statement the following day in order to clarify the situation.

Mr Cook explained that the Prime Minister was attending the G8 summit and that in light of the fact that both the British and Irish governments were in the process of drawing up a ‘non-negotiable package’ to present to the political parties, any premature comments on the situation might be detrimental: “The Right Hon. Gentleman perfectly illustrated why a statement on Northern Ireland at the present time might not help. He demanded to know who said what to whom. I cannot imagine a statement detailing that as anything other than disastrous in the context of talks that are continuing and will continue during the recess.” (AMcE)