DOCKS STRIKE (Hansard, 29 June 1948)

§ Mr. Eden
May I ask the Prime Minister if he has any further statement to make about the strike at the docks?

§ The Prime Minister
From the reports received, there is a good prospect of a general resumption of work tomorrow. Regulations have been drafted. If it is still found necessary to make them, they will be made tomorrow.

§ Mr. Eden
May I say how much, I am sure, hon. Members in all parts of the House welcome what the Prime Minister has said, and how much we hope that the expectations he has expressed will be entirely fulfilled? May I ask him on Business whether, in view of his statement, we may take it that Business tomorrow will be as originally arranged, that is to say, a foreign affairs Debate; and then we can see about further Business in accordance with how the situation has developed?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, Sir. Tomorrow there will be a Debate on foreign affairs and any other matter can be dealt with through the usual channels.

§ Mr. Mellish
Is the Prime Minister aware that following his brilliant broadcast last night when he asked the dockers to go back to work this morning, this morning at the Victoria Park meeting at which I was present, when the Prime Minister was attacked by one of the Communists speaking on the unofficial platform, the speaker was howled down by the dockers and dragged off the platform?

Mrs. Braddock
Does not the Prime Minister feel that it is disastrous for a Labour Government to invoke Emergency Regulations, when the whole matter of the unofficial strike could easily have been settled, if one man had had the courage to withdraw his first statement and recommend the suspensions of the penalties imposed on the 11 men, pending the full inquiry—

§ Mr. Speaker
That is not a question. It is an argument and statement. Only questions are allowed now.

Mrs. Braddock
I was asking a question.

§ Mr. Speaker
It should be put briefly and not in the course of a long statement.

Mrs. Braddock
May I finish the question—pending the full inquiry which has now been promised?

§ The Prime Minister
No, Sir. I made a full statement on this matter and showed what the position was. I have nothing to add to the statement I previously made in reply to the hon. Member for Mile End (Mr. Piratin).

§ Mr. Gallacher
Would the Prime Minister say whether this strike has not ended in the same way as the dock strike in 1924, which was led by the right hon. Gentleman who is now Foreign Secretary, where the Emergency Powers Act was invoked; and in view of the fact that the Emergency Powers Act was invoked against the Foreign Secretary when he led the dock strike and that Act is used again by the Labour Government, how does the Prime Minister assert that subversive elements are responsible for this strike? Were they subversive elements in 1924?

§ Mr. Logan
I did not intend to ask a question, but in view of what has been said by two hon. Members who have already spoken, and as one who was present at the Liverpool meeting, I should like to ask the Prime Minister how long are we to tolerate in the City of Liverpool, or any other city, the Communist Party instigating people to rise in the city, although they know nothing whatever about the matter? This was a self-inspired Communist meeting on Sunday night, and I should like to know what steps can be taken to keep irresponsibles from coming to the City of Liverpool to cause strikes?