HC Deb 17 February 1944 vol 397 cc351-4
Mr. Greenwood

May I ask the Leader of the House to state the forthcoming Business?

Mr. Eden

With regard to the Business for to-day, we are asking for the suspension of the Rule because, after the Committee stage of the Income Tax (Offices and Employments) Bill, we want to make sufficient progress in Committee with the Reinstatement in Civil Employment Bill to ensure our concluding the Committee stage on the next Sitting Day. We also want to obtain the Committee and remaining stages of the Prize Salvage Bill, which I understand is not controversial but is an urgent Measure, and also the Courts (Emergency Powers) (Scotland) Bill. I hope we shall be able to make sufficient progress without asking the House to sit unduly late.

The Business for the next series of Sitting Days will be:

First and Second Sitting Days—My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will make a statement on the war and the international situation on the first Sitting Day. The statement will be made on the Motion for the Adjournment of the House and an opportunity will arise for a Debate, which will be continued and concluded on the second Sitting Day.

Third and Fourth Sitting Days—We shall make further progress in Committee on the Education Bill.

During this series of Sittings we shall ask the House to take the remaining stages of the Income Tax (Offices and Employments) Bill.

Mr. Tinker

Can I ask the right hon Gentleman to extend the War Debate on the first day because it will be a long discussion, and it will give the greatest satisfaction if we can have a longer time?

Mr. Eden

I was going into that and making soundings through the usual channels. I think we might have an extension on the first day and none on the second.

Mr. Lewis

Can my right hon. Friend give some indication of what he will regard as satisfactory progress on the Reinstatement in Civil Employment Bill? How far does he hope to get?

Mr. Eden

I hope to get as far as I possibly can.

Mr. Maxton

Have the Government considered whether the War Debate is not a proper occasion for a discussion on a positive Motion of the Government, rather than on the Motion for the Adjournment?

Mr. Eden

We had considered that and we thought that this was, on the whole, the most convenient form in present conditions.

Mr. Maxton

Are we to understand that if the Motion for the Adjournment is agreed to, it will be regarded as approval of the proceedings of the Teheran Conference, the Cairo Conference and the various other matters that have developed since?

Mr. Eden

If there is no positive Motion, clearly the interpretation is open to the hon. Gentleman and anyone else.

Mr. Maxton

Would it be open to us to vote against it?

Mr. Eden

Certainly, Sir.

Mr. W. J. Brown

When is it likely that we shall be given the terms of the Bill, which was promised last Session, dealing with the pensions of retired State servants?

Mr. Eden

My right hon. Friend tells me that he is introducing it during the next series of Sittings and that there will be a Debate in the following series.

Mr. Stokes

Does the right hon. Gentleman propose at an early date to give an opportunity for a Debate on post-war currency? In that connection, has his attention been called to the conversations that are going on in America, which are causing a good deal of anxiety in this country in responsible quarters?

Mr. Eden

I do not know what my hon. Friend's anxiety is about. Perhaps he will be good enough to put down a question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the matter. I can certainly see no present prospect of giving opportunity for a Debate. There has been a Government undertaking that there will be no commitment on this matter until the House has had an opportunity of Debate.

Mr. Stokes

I have put several questions to the Chancellor, but he only stonewalls them.

Mr. Eden

I can only encourage my hon. Friend to persevere.

Dr. Russell Thomas

Will the War Debate include our foreign relationships, and their general bearing on the Empire as a whole?

Mr. Eden

My right hon. Friend's statement will be on the war situation and international relations. The width of the Debate is not a matter for me.

Mr. Thorne

Can the right hon. Gentleman give any idea how many days he proposes to spend on the Education Bill?

Mr. Eden

As few as we can contrive. My hon. Friend can guess as well as I can.

Mr. A. Bevan

Last week a number of Members asked questions about a Debate on housing. The right hon. Gentleman has made no announcement about it to-day. A number of important Debates have taken place in another place. Is it not time for the House of Commons to discuss these urgent domestic matters?

Mr. Eden

I have in mind that the matter was raised, but there are a number of other very urgent matters. We must make progress with the Education Bill and the War Debate must have first place. I am not, at present, prepared to say what we shall do in the following series of Sittings, but there are many other claims.

Mr. Bevan

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there is hardly any problem which presses more urgently on our own people than that of housing; and will he consider during the next series of Sittings, whether we can have a Debate in the following series?

Mr. Eden

It does not follow, because we do not have a Debate, that the Government are not making their plans. They are.

Mr. Buchanan

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider, on the question of a housing Debate, not confining it to England or Scotland, but making it a survey of the housing needs of the country as a whole?