With permission, Mr. Speaker, I will now make a short interim statement about the Report of the Radcliffe Committee.

The House will recall that, on 5th December, I said that I hoped to make a statement before Christmas. I therefore thought it only right to tell the House now that I am still studying the Report and am in touch with the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition about it.

I shall, of course, make a fuller statement at the first available opportunity after the Christmas Recess.