PRIME MINISTER HAROLD WILSON

That this House recalls that on 14 February 1963 Harold Wilson became leader of the Labour Party and subsequently served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976 when he was forced to retire due to ill-health; notes that it was during Wilson's governments that capital punishment was abolished, homosexuality ceased to be a crime and abortion laws were radically reformed; further recalls the rapid rise in higher education opportunities during the Wilson years including the establishment of the Open University and polytechnics and that Wilson insisted on keeping Britain out of the Vietnam War, but within NATO, and gave the people of Britain a referendum on Europe; declares its surprise that no full-length statue of Harold Wilson exists in Westminster; and calls for early action to commission a statue equal in quality to that which stands in St George's Square in his home town of Huddersfield.