§ 57. Mr. D. Jonesasked the Minister of Transport if he will publish a list of the names of the trade unions which protested in writing to his Department about the area schemes for passenger transport, as stated by him in the House of Commons on 22nd July, 1952.
§ The Minister of Transport (Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd)I should not have referred to trade unions in my statement of 22nd July but to trade unionists.
I had in mind not only the many bus workers who were opposed and wrote to this effect, but also the councillors in the north-east including trade unionists, who, for example, on the West Hartlepool County Borough Council or the Darlington County Borough Council opposed the scheme; or those on the county borough councils of Gateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and South Shields who objected to the scheme as drafted.
§ Mr. JonesDoes the Minister agree that he is trying to cloud the issue and 594 that he deliberately misled the House on 22nd July? He now tells us that there is not a single trade union, not even the one in Newcastle set up by the employers—in fact, there is no single trade union in the country—which is opposed to these schemes.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI made it quite plain that I should not have said "trade unions" but "trade unionists" and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for having drawn my attention to an error which was quite inadvertent. But it certainly does not alter the fact that a very large number of the rank and file of the people most affected are opposed to the schemes.
§ Mr. SpeakerWe are again anticipating the debate on the Bill.