§ Order read for Consideration of Lords Amendments.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Lords Amendments be now considered."—[Mr. Shinwell.]
§ Captain Crookshank (Gainsborough)Before we proceed to the consideration of the Lords Amendments, is not the Minister of Fuel and Power going to make some statement?
§ 3.40 p.m.
§ The Minister of Fuel and Power (Mr. Shinwell)I thought that, as general agreement had been reached in another 400 place on the form and, indeed, the substance of the Amendments, it was unnecessary for me to offer any observations at this stage. What I had in mind was that, if hon. Members wished to elicit any information on any of the Amendments, I should be glad to furnish it. I can say that, generally speaking, agreement has been reached. There has been, of course, some compromise as that was inevitable in the circumstances. Our attention was directed in another place to what were regarded as defects in the Clauses; our representatives in another place listened attentively to the submissions that were made to them, and agreement was reached. I can find nothing objectionable in the form of the Amendments. I cannot think of anything else I should say at this stage. I would not say that I am quite satisfied but I feel 401 that what appears on the Order Paper should satisfy right hon. and hon. Members opposite.
§ Captain CrookshankI am much obliged to the right hon. Gentleman for his statement. It is, indeed, surprising to think that we have now reached a stage at which he cannot think of anything else to say. This is very different from the ebullience with which this Bill started on its Second Reading. There were no indications then of what would be the final result, but I take it, from what the Minister has said, that, generally speaking, he is going to recommend the House to accept the Amendments as we come to them. We did want to know that, because it may shorten our proceedings if we know that that is the general idea.
I would like to make the comment that here we are with 15 pages of Amendments, and if it is not unprecedented, it must be years, since we had such an enormous number of Amendments sent down from another place. For that, the Government ought to be exceedingly grateful. The right hon. Gentleman said that his representatives in another place had listened very attentively. The result of their listening very attentively is shown in this document, and the Government, at least, should be grateful indeed for what has been done in another place. The great bulk of these Amendments are drafting and clarifying Amendments, which is one vindication of what we have been saying all along—that Bills introduced into this House, and passed under the present procedure, do not get sufficient attention here. If this Bill had not been so rushed in its later stages here, some of the points covered by these drafting and clarifying Amendments could have been dealt with more reasonably by this House. The right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues have, therefore, every reason to be grateful to another place for the care and attention given to this Measure and for the Amendments which have been inserted.
There are some Amendments on which the right hon. Gentleman says some compromise was inevitable, and on which agreement was reached. For that, again, the Government should be extremely grateful, because that is one point which we argued, we thought very cogently, in this House. Now that our points have 402 come back to us in the form of Government Amendments introduced in another place, they do show to the Government the advantage of an opportunity for second thoughts. For that reason, the action which has been taken elsewhere has been greatly to the public interest. If we accept these Amendments, undoubtedly the Bill will leave us in a far better form than it was in previously. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will put to his colleagues, and, more particularly, to the Lord President of the Council, who, after all, is the nigger in this particular woodpile, that more time should be given to discussion in this House, in order that we should not, in future, have to spend a whole day on Lords Amendments which we could have taken in our stride at an earlier stage.
§ Mr. Naylor (Southwark, South-East)Are we to understand that, after what has taken place, another place is discharged without a stain on its character?
§ Lords Amendments considered accordingly.