§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (THE EARL OF MUNSTER)My Lords, I have a statement to make to your Lordships which my right honourable friend the Minister of Labour is making in another place at this hour. The statement is as follows. There has been little change in the situation since my right honourable friend's previous statement in another place last Friday. About 1,000 men have gone back to work in the Port of London, but some 700 are now on strike at Manchester. Elsewhere there is no appreciable change. The damaging effects of this stoppage on the country's economic life, to which my right honourable friend referred in his previous statement, grows more serious day by day; in particular the threat to employment in other industries is causing increasing concern. The Court of Inquiry, which is investigating the causes and circumstances of the dispute, has, in view of the urgency of the situation, submitted to my right honourable friend an Interim Report. The Minister has taken immediate steps to expedite its publication, and I hope the Report will be available to noble Lords to-morrow afternoon.
§ EARL JOWITTMy Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for making this statement. The situation, I think, is such a delicate one that it is probably wiser not to ask any of the obvious questions or make any comment except to say this. As I understand it, if the men go back to work there is nothing whatever to prevent an immediate investigation and inquiry into the dispute which exists, and one cannot help wondering, in those circumstances, what it is all about and why they do not go back.
§ THE EARL OF MUNSTERThe noble and learned Earl is perfectly correct. That is the case.