ADJOURNMENT. (Hansard, 8 August 1940)

§ Mr. Hopkinson
I beg to move, to leave out "Tuesday," and to insert "Monday."
The reason for my Amendment is solely this. Apparently, on the programme of business, it is impossible to bring up in Debate certain matters of very great importance. One of the chief troubles in regard to our programme, under war conditions, is due to the fact that sittings of the House are confined to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Therefore it is very difficult to find time for debate upon things which, ultimately, are at least as important as the ordinary day-to-day work of the House. I mean the rights and privileges of this House, as they have been established for centuries. At the present time they are exposed to the gravest possible peril from time to time. For that reason, I hope that the House will agree to extend our sittings by one day next week, so that we can have an opportunity, after arrangements have been made through the usual channels, of debating to what extent the House is being deprived of its privileges, and to what extent the House is determined to stand out for those privileges, and not to let them be filched away, as 425 they have been during the last few weeks. The matter is one of importance, and I hope that I may have the support of the House in bringing it forward. The urgency of the question lies in the fact that we have recently set up a new organ in the State which may presumably be of great benefit to the public weal, but, on the contrary, may unscrupulously be used to the very grave detriment of our country in the hour of its need. Unless this House can be kept closely in touch with the activities of that particular body, we shall be putting ourselves into a position of the gravest danger and ultimately bring about a state of affairs, when civil war may be the only remedy for the troubles in which we are involved.
I take it, although I am no historian, that the revolution in this country was due largely to the fact that Parliament allowed a certain person, who shall be nameless, to take more and more upon himself and to deprive this House more and more of its ancient privileges; and that it was due to Parliament allowing this encroachment upon its privileges that a situation arose when civil war and violence was the only means by which our privileges could be re-established. In these days there is, some Members will say a remote risk, but I think, at all events, some risk, of the Executive absorbing such powers and infringing our privileges to such an extent that violence were the only means by which way by which we can regain them. I do not want that peril to be regarded as an impossible one, though I hope it is one very far from us because if it should arise I can say this much—and I think I speak on behalf of many Members here—that I myself will take up arms and be a leader against the usurpation by the Executive of powers and rights which belong to Parliament alone.

§ Mr. Mander
I beg to second the Amendment.

§ Mr. Maxton
I do not want to prolong discussion on the Amendment that has been moved by the hon. Member for Mossley (Mr. Hopkinson), but I certainly would like to hear some reply from the Government spokesman before we have to decide how to cast our votes on the Motion before us. I am very ready, as one Member of this House, to come to the House on Monday, if it is desirable, 426 but another day should be found to discuss the question of the rights of this House. The hon. Gentleman was somewhat vague in his reference to the particular matter that he thought was threatening our rights just now. I gather from his Questions and other references that he is considerably concerned about the committee that has been set up under the chairmanship of Lord Swinton. I share with him equally some of the very grave doubts as to what this body is doing. If the purpose of this body is to nose around among Members of Parliament and to and out their opinions on this, that and the other thing with a view to reporting them to the authorities, then this House—[Interruption.] I am certain that Mr. Speaker can be trusted to get to his feet if I go beyond the Rules of Order. Hon. Members around me are attempting to usurp the rights of Mr. Speaker. I say that certainly interferences of that sort with our freedom as Members of Parliament would be issues about which this House ought to be very much on the alert. I think that the request of the hon. Member for another day when issues of that description and kindred issues could be discussed before this House adjourns, if it is to adjourn, is a reasonable one, and, personally, I should like to hear a reply from the Government on the subject.

§ Mr. Attlee
I was about to get up to reply when the hon. Member rose. I have listened to the rather cryptic remarks of the hon. Member for Mossley (Mr. Hopkinson), and I had no notice and no request for a discussion of this subject. I should have thought that that was a very inconvenient way of asking for the subject to be raised in this House. Members presumably make their arrangements accordingly if they think the House is coming back on Monday or Tuesday, and the hon. and gallant Member might have raised this matter earlier in order that he might have given Members an opportunity of making their arrangements.

§ Mr. Hopkinson
I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman is quite fair. I could not possibly raise it until we had had an answer to our Question to-day. I apologise for the shortness of the notice, which was absolutely unavoidable.

§ Mr. Attlee
I am afraid that I have not quite connected the remarks of the hon. Member, which, I gather, are mainly directed to the point that in certain circumstances he would be forced to lead a revolution. That is not so urgent. If he wanted to lead that revolution by Monday next, it would have been better to have discussed the question. This Government has again and again pointed out to Members of the House that it is desired that the House should have the fullest opportunity of discussing subjects, and it is our constant endeavour to find out—and it is not always very easy—what any considerable number of Members want to discuss. This matter can be discussed through the usual channels. [An HON. MEMBER: "What are the usual channels?"] The usual Whips and the Leader of the House. I should have thought it would be extremely inconvenient for most of the Members to have an alteration, unless the hon. Member thinks that he must take action by next Monday. I should think that he would have had a better House for whatever he wishes to discuss if he arranged in the ordinary way that time should be provided. There is no intention whatever on the part of the Government that an opportunity should not be given for discussing anything that this House thinks it right to discuss.

§ Mr. Hopkinson
I beg leave to withdraw the Amendment, on the understanding that I myself may be regarded as one of the usual channels.

§ Mr. Attlee
The hon. Member cannot himself be a channel. After all, there is an entrance and an exit, and surely, if he is to be effective, he must make contact in some way or other with some representative of the Government.

§ Mr. Hopkinson
Perhaps it will save the time of the House if I withdraw the Amendment on the chance that I may be able to communicate with the Government Whips. I should, however, before I sit down, just draw the attention of the House to the fact that this is a serious matter and that silly facetiousness such as we have heard from the Front Bench is entirely irrelevant.