TV cameras in Lords?

Press, 10 November 1983, Page 19

TV cameras in Lords?

NZPA staff correspondent London Britons may be able to watch the House of Lords in session on television next year. Peers are expected to vote - next month to allow cameras in, at least for a trial period. Lord Soames, former Conservative leader of the House, is introducing a motion which would pave the way for television. It is expected to get support from many peers, including the leader of the Lords, Viscount Whitelaw, and Viscount Tonypandy, who as George Thomas was until this year Speaker of the House of Commons. Lord Whitelaw has been a long-time advocate of televising Parliament

Peers can claim a wealth of expertise in most fields and many are keen to see their speeches reach a much wider public. Unlike members of Parliament in the House of Commons, they are not worried that cameras will zoom in on rowdy scenes or sleeping members the atmosphere in the Lords is much more civil, peers say. The Lords took the initiative with radio broadcasting which has been a regular feature since 1978. If Lord Soames’s motion is carried, as expected, it will go to the Lords sessional committee on sound broadcasting, which is then likely to start negotiations with the 8.8. C. and the Independent Broadcasting Authority.

Probably the only hitch would be if the broadcasting authorities decided it was

too costly to televise only one chamber. The House of Commons last week gave a first reading to a private member’s bill introduced by a Labour M.P., Mr Austin Mitchell, a former television interviewer in New Zealand, which would allow debates in the Commons to be televised.

Mr Mitchell’s bill got a first reading by 164 votes to 159, but there is some strong opposition to TV in the House of Commons and the general feeling seems to be that it is unlikely to get past a second reading.