HC Deb 19 June 1947 vol 438 cc2221-8
Mr. Eden

May I ask the Leader of the House to tell us the Business for next week?

The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison)

The Business we propose to take next week will be as follows:

On Monday, 23rd June, Tuesday, 24th June, and Wednesday, 25th June—Report stage of the Electricity Bill.

On Thursday, 26th June—Supply (7th Allotted Day); Committee. The Board of Trade vote will be considered with particular reference to shortages of civilian goods.

On Friday, 27th June—Committee and remaining stages of the Northern Ireland Bill, and Probation Officers (Superannuation) Bill.

We hope also that it will be agreeable to the House to take the Committee and remaining stages of the Agriculture (Emergency Payments) Bill, which is down for Second Reading tomorrow; and the Second Reading of the Foreign Marriages Bill [Lords], and of the Wellington Museum Bill [Lords].

During the week we shall ask the House to consider new Ways and Means Resolutions relating to taxation upon motor cars, announced on Tuesday by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Resolutions are required to implement the Chancellor's proposals before the new Clause can be considered at the next stage of the Finance Bill.

Mr. Eden

In respect of the Business for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, is it a fact that there are still some new Clauses and Amendments which the Government desire to put down for Report stage and which have not yet appeared on the Order Paper?

Mr. Morrison

I understand that it is the case that the vast majority of the Government Amendments to the Electricity Bill had appeared on the Order Paper by 10th June. As the hon. Gentleman has indicated, it is the case that there are some other Amendments to come in and I am advised that they will be tabled as early as possible. I am afraid that there are one or two new Clauses among them. I admit straight away that it is a fair point of complaint and I will do my very best with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Fuel and Power to secure the maximum acceleration.

Mr. Eden

Will the right hon. Gentleman really look where we are going in this matter, if the House is to do its Business seriously at all? We are asked to take the Report stage on Monday and there are Government Amendments and new Clauses which the House has not yet seen and cannot see until tomorrow, when many hon. Members go to their constituencies. Even that is not all. The right hon. Gentleman, surely, knows that new Clauses have to be taken at the beginning immediately after recommittal, so on Monday we must discuss new Clauses which we have not yet seen. Finally, may I remind the right hon. Gentleman that this Bill concluded its Committee stage upstairs before Whitsuntide? Why in the world could not the Minister of Fuel and Power put these Amendments down in reasonable time?

Mr. Morrison

I note what the right hon. Gentleman has said. I, can assure him the point will be taken up. I will do my very best to meet the convenience of the House as far as I can, but I am afraid we must start the Business on Monday with the Report stage. I note what the right hon. Gentleman has said and I will make suitable representations in the proper quarter.

Mr. David Grenfell

I want to inquire about a matter of urgent public importance. My colleagues the hon. Members for East Swansea (Mr. Mort), West Swansea (Mr. P. Morris) and Neath (Mr. D. Williams) and myself have tried to arrange a discussion on the critical situation which has arisen in the steel and tinplate industry as a result of a recent Government decision. We are informed that the Government are contemplating the abandonment of a cold strip site at Swansea which was selected long ago and which has been in course of construction for many months. Over £50,000 has already been spent and there were 380 persons employed there this week. Many more were to work on double shifts to complete the site. The site is admittedly one of the best in South Wales, both on technological and sociological grounds. All the Members for West Wales, with one exception; are agreed on this point. We have asked the Prime Minister for time to discuss the matter.

Mr. Speaker

I thought the hon. Gentleman was asking a question on Business. That is why I called him. I understood there was a Welsh point to which he wished to draw attention.

Mr. Grenfell

I have explained, with some preliminary remarks, the point I wish to put. I am endeavouring to show how important the situation is. We are given no promise about the right of Members of Parliament to speak on matters concerning their constituencies. I ask the Leader of the House, or the Prime Minister, if he is present, to declare now whether such an opportunity will be given at an early date or whether some satisfactory method will be adopted of deciding the Ideation of this site on merits alone?

Mr. Morrison

I understand that there will be an answer to a Question which appears on the Order Paper on this subject. It will be a written answer.

Mr. Grenfell

There has been no answer.

Mr. Morrison

It so happens that the Question was not reached. Had it been reached, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply would have answered it. It was not reached and the answer will appear as a written reply in HANSARD. It would be difficult for us to set aside time to discuss the assignment of a particular site for a particular industrial undertaking. It may be that, arising out of the answer, my hon. Friend may wish to raise the matter on the Adjournment. Obviously, that is within his rights but I do not think that we could give special time in which to debate and decide the siting of a particular industry.

Mr. Grenfell

The site has been chosen. There have been operations on the site. Next Monday, unless some decision is taken by some one in authority, 100 men will be thrown out of work. What have the Government to say about it?

Mr. Morrison

My hon. Friend is a little premature. When he sees the reply, he will see that a decision has been taken.

Mr. Callaghan

Could the Minister of Supply, with the leave of the House, give this reply now because the Government have changed their minds on this project in a period of three weeks?

Mr. Percy Morris

Will the Leader of the House, in view of the gravity of this situation, indicate that the matter will be remitted for the advice of an independent and competent adviser free from all bias.

Mr. Speaker

We are on the question of the Business for next week.

Mr. Callaghan

Can I have a reply to my question?

Mr. R. S. Hudson rose—

Mr. Callaghan

On a point of Order. Am I not correctly interpreting the wish of many hon. Members of this House when I say that the Minister of Supply should give us an answer now? If that is so, can we not have it, for this is a matter of grave importance?

Mr. Speaker

I thought the Minister had given some reply. I do not know whether he wishes to reply twice.

Mr. R. S. Hudson

May I ask for your guidance, Sir, about the Report stage of the Electricity Bill? From what the Leader of the House has said, I understand that it is not even certain when these two new Clauses will be ready. They may not be put in tonight and they may not appear on the Order Paper tomorrow morning. Obviously that.gives an appallingly short time for hon. Members on this side of the House to consider them, and I imagine the same will apply to you, Sir. Will it be in Order, if this matter comes on first on Monday, to put in a manuscript Amendment which we may desire to offer as a result of cogitation over the weekend?

Mr. Morrison

The latter part of the right hon. Gentleman's observations are quite correct, but I am sure that these new Clauses will be handed in today.

Mr. Speaker

I was asked to consider the point whether, if necessary, manuscript Amendments could be put in. I am prepared to consider manuscript Amendments.

Mr. R. S. Hudson

I am much obliged.

Sir W. Smithers

May I ask the Leader of the House if, before the end of the Session, he can find part of a day on which to discuss the Motion on the Order Paper standing in the name of about 50 hon. Members and myself about dispossessed farmers?

[That this House calls upon His Majesty's Government to set up a Royal Commission to inquire and to make recommendations concerning farmers and smallholders who have been dispossessed of their holdings since 1939.]

So many people are involved, interest is widespread over the country, and it is a matter of great principle. Cannot a day be found before the end of the Session?

Mr. Morrison

If I might make a respectful suggestion to the hon. Gentleman, I would say that, if he makes representa- tions through the appropriate quarter, it might be possible on a Supply Day, of which there are quite a number to come.

Sir R. Glyn

May I ask for your guidance, Mr. Speaker, on a matter on which I am not clear? If a Question on an important matter has not been reached, and there is a general desire in the House to hear the answer to it, does the initiative lie with the Government to give that answer, or is it possible, with your permission, for the answer to be given at the request of the House?

Mr. Speaker

I did not hear what the hon. Baronet said. Will he put his question again?

Sir R. Glyn

All I want to know is whether, when a matter of public importance has been raised by Question on the Order Paper, and that Question has not been reached, and it is clear that there is a large body of opinion in the House which would like to hear the answer, the initiative for giving the answer lies in the hands of the Government, or is it open to the House, through you, Sir, to request the answer?

Mr. Speaker

The responsibility rests entirely with the Minister. It is for him to say that it is a matter of public importance and one on which he should give the answer, but it is entirely up to him.

Mr. Grenfell

Further to that point of Order. The Leader of the House said that the Minister had an answer to the Question which would convey a different sense from that which is already in possession of the House. Can we have that answer?

Mr. Morrison

My difficulty is that, if this point was to be raised, I should have thought that it ought to have been raised before. [Interruption.] We are discussing the Business for next week, and the Business for next week has nothing to do with whether a Question on the Order Paper should have been answered or not.

Hon. Members

Answer.

Mr. Speaker

I asked the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Grenfell) whether he was talking on the Business for next week, and I gathered that he was asking the Leader of the House for time to discuss this situation, and not whether an answer should be given to a Question on the Order Paper.

Mr. G. Thomas

On a point of Order. I think it will be within your recollection, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, that I did rise before the Business for next week was announced and that you told me that I should wait until after the Business announcement had been disposed of. Since this matter is one on which there is very deep feeling, surely, if the Minister has the answer, he could give it now?

Mr. Speaker

That has nothing to do with the Business for next week.

Mr. Callaghan

When the question of the Business for next week is finished, may I ask the Minister of Supply if he will be willing to give that answer?

Mr. Speaker

Question time has already been concluded. I am always having to refuse to allow hon. Members to press Ministers to give answers. The responsibility is that of the Minister concerned. If he chooses to do so, well and good; if he chooses not to do so, well and good, also.

Mr. Mort

Can I appeal to the Minister now?

Mr. Speaker

Mr. Lipson.

Mr. Lipson

May I ask a question on today's Business? May I ask the Leader of the House if he will agree to the Suspension of the Rule for one hour, as far as the Debate on Foreign Affairs is concerned, so as to enable many more hon. Members to take part?

Mr. Morrison

I would like to meet the convenience of hon. Members, but there is more Business today than the Debate on foreign affairs. We had a two days' Debate on foreign affairs fairly recently, and I should not think that it is a case for suspension.

Lieut.-Commander Braithwaite

May I ask the Leader of the House a question arising out of next week's Business? Will he see to it that the Ways and Means Resolutions to be taken some time next week come on at a reasonable hour and not in the early hours of the morning?

Mr. Morrison

Yes, Sir, I think we can arrange that.

Mr. Henry Usborne

May I ask the Leader of the House my weekly question—whether he will give time for a Debate on the Motion on World Federation stand- ing in my name and the names of about 80 other hon. Members of this House?

[That in order to raise the standard of living of the peoples of the world and to maintain world peace, this House requests His Majesty's Government to affirm Britain's readiness to federate with any other nations willing to do so on the basis of a federal constitution to be agreed by a representative constituent assembly.]

We think it is very important and that it requires to be debated now.

Mr. Morrison

I admire the patience and persistence of my hon. Friend, but I am bound to tell him that the only hope for him is on some appropriate foreign affairs Debate in order to put his point of view.

Mr. Usborne

May I ask the Leader of the House whether he realises that we shall want to divide the House on this Motion?

Mr. Morrison

My hon. Friend cannot think that the prospect of a Division would incline me to fall in with that request.

Mr. Eden

I would like to put a short question on the Business for today. In view of what happened last night, and of the Business for today, will the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is generally unsatisfactory to take the Report stage and Committee stage on the same evening, because of the Amendments in Committee? Could the right hon. Gentleman tell us that he Mil not take the Report and Third Reading of the Public Offices Bill, if amended in Committee? If he can tell us that, I suggest that we will not divide on the Motion to Suspend the Rule.

Mr. Morrison

That is a reasonable request. I quite agree that this is exceptional, but we must do it now and again. In the circumstances, I am inclined to agree to that request.