§ Mr. Ivor Owen ThomasI thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity of drawing attention to an error in the OFFICIAL REPORT of the proceedings of the House for Monday last, 1st November.
During the debate on the Railways Reorganisation Scheme, in the fourth 378 paragraph in column 134 of the OFFICIAL REPORT, it is reported that I stated:
This Scheme, which the Transport Commission had been forced to produce, turns the wheel backwards. It is a reversion to the old ideas and ideals which were given voice to by an hon. Member whose constituency I cannot bring to mind.Then the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Renfrew, West (Mr. Maclay) intervened and stated:My constituency is Renfrew, West."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 1st November, 1954; Vol. 532, c. 134.]I concluded from that that he felt that I had been referring to him. I corrected that immediately, and in the course of my correcting statement I mentioned the hon. Member whom I thought had made the statement, but, in fact, it was an error.I now wish to make the correct statement. The statement which follows the intervention by the right hon. Member for Renfrew, West should, instead of mentioning the hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. McKibbin), read as follows:
No, it was a Tory Member—the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Cole)— who spoke even worse rubbish."*and that is saying a lot.
§ Mr. SpeakerI do not know whether the last words used by the hon. Member were in the report of his speech. I hope the matter is now clear beyond doubt.