§ 47. Mr. David Rentonasked the Lord President of the Council what plans have been made by His Majesty's Government for ensuring proper liaison between its members and bodies representing large numbers of self-employed workers by analogy with existing machinery whereby bodies representing employers and those representing employees can be consulted in framing economic policy.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI am sorry, Sir, but I fear that the hon. Member's proposal is hardly practicable.
§ Mr. RentonAs the trade unions have, quite rightly, frequently been consulted by His Majesty's Government on matters of major policy, would it not be proper, in order to secure the maximum cooperation from all vital sections of the community, that representatives of the large 503 numbers of self employed persons should also be consulted? They are now well organised.
§ Mr. MorrisonI do not know why the hon. Gentleman, except for reasons of anti-trade union bias, should seize upon trade unions. He ought to know—and if he does not, I will tell him—that the organised employers in production are also on this very same body, and, therefore, they are in equally with the trade unions. The only thing is, that this is mainly a problem of sheer production. The perfectly worthy citizens to whom the hon. Gentleman has called attention would not be appropriate for representation on the body, for that would complicate the whole set-up. That is the only reason: it is a question of practicability.
§ Mr. RentonOn a point of Order. As the Lori President has made a personal imputation against me, in saying that I had an anti-trade union bias, may I be allowed to deny that forthwith?