NEW WRIT (ARGYLL) (Hansard, 21 May 1958)

§ Mr. A. Woodburn (Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire)
I know that it is not customary to raise any objection to Writs being issued, but this one seems to have appeared with unseemly haste after the death of the former hon. and gallant Member for Argyll. The reason I am asking the Patronage Secretary to give us an explanation is that elections in West Highland constituencies are exceptional, and it is very difficult for candidates to visit constituencies. In this case there will be new candidates on both sides, and presumably they will be quite unknown to a large number of people in this area.
Since election expenses do not permit of the use of helicopters to fly from point to point, transport makes it extremely difficult for candidates to cover this area. That might have been arranged if a more reasonable time had been allowed before the by-election.
I should like to know whether the Patronage Secretary has taken these circumstances into account, because this area does not have an election very often—and certainly not by-elections—and it will be a new experience after a good many years.
I am quite sure that the electorate in the area would have appreciated more time, but it may be that the Patronage Secretary has reasonable grounds for having the election now. It would be most unfortunate if the people of Argyllshire were to gain the impression that the Government did not want the case to be discussed in Argyll and were treating this burgh as a rotten burgh.

§ Mr. Emrys Hughes (South Ayrshire)
The Government are doing, in the case of Argyll, exactly what they did some time ago in the case of Inverness-shire, when there was considerable resentment in that very scattered constituency against the way in which the Government forced the 1307 by-election. As my hon. Friend the Member for East Stirlingshire (Mr. Woodburn) has said, Highland and island constituencies present very great difficulties to the various candidates. There is special reason at present why they should have abundant opportunity of being able to reach their electors.
There is, I understand, a Liberal candidate in the field. I understand that the absence of the Leader of the Liberal Party is due to the fact that he has already gone off to start the campaign. As in Inverness-shire, this is a constituency in which the Liberal Party is very interested, because in Inverness-shire the Liberal candidate nearly defeated the Tory candidate. At present, in Argyllshire, the Liberal candidate happens to be the chairman of the Scottish National Farmers' Union and he is very anxious to have the utmost opportunity of putting before the electors the difficult position which the farmers will be in when the Agricultural Bill, now before the House, comes into operation.
I understand the Government's motives very clearly, because, on the Agricultural Bill, we are just on the point of discussing the whole question of security of tenure for farmers. In those circumstances, I can quite understand that the Government do not want the Liberal candidate to have an opportunity of putting the case to the farmers before the by-election in Argyll. This is essentially a very different kind of constituency from that of Islington or Rochdale. This will be the second time that this sort of thing has occurred, and in those circumstances I believe that we are entitled to object very strongly, on behalf of people in Argyll, against this rushing of the by-election.

§ Mr. Ross
Does not the Patronage Secretary think it also desirable that the Liberal candidate should have plenty of opportunity of explaining to the people of Argyll why the Liberal Member on that Committee supported the Government all the way through Clause 1?

§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)
The Patronage Secretary moved the Writ for this by-election, and, as there was opposition, you, Sir, rightly 1308 decreed that the debate on it should take place now. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Stirlingshire (Mr. Woodburn) and the hon. Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Emrys Hughes) have both raised points on it, but the Government see no reason whatever to go back on their decision to carry the Writ through the House.
Let us examine the position. The hon. Member for South Ayrshire shed some crocodile tears on behalf of the Liberals. I have made inquiries, and I understand that the Liberal candidate was adopted as long ago as early December. On studying the Glasgow Herald for 12th May, I found these words: By-election in Argyll. The Liberals, whose country organisations has been reformed, have also adopted a farmer as candidate … and they give his name. The candidate has not only been adopted, but has had ample opportunity should he have wished to do so, since December, to get to know the constituency. The more the Liberal candidate discusses the farming policy of the Government, the more likely we are to have a resounding victory there.
No crocodile tears were shed on behalf of the Labour candidate. If my own inquiries, which have had to be made rather quickly, are correct—and again basing myself on the Glasgow Herald of 12th May—I find that the Labour candidate has stood twice before, and that this will be the third time that he has contested the seat. If that be so, I am somewhat surprised that he will find it so difficult to get to know the whereabouts of his constituency. If that be his main credential, I can only say that the omens are extremely good for the Conservative candidate in the by-election.
I now have to fall back on the one serious argument that has been put forward, which is that this Writ has been brought forward too soon. I have looked up the precedents, and I find that on previous occasions—it is true that some of them were not on death, which we all regret so much, but were on occasions of Members retiring and accepting the Stewardships of the Chiltern Hundreds or of the Manor of Northstead—the intervals under the Labour Government were shorter than this. Therefore, I do not find anything indecent in the proposal made by Her Majesty's Government.
1309 I should like the House to know that before deciding to move the Writ, and authorising the Patronage Secretary so to do, the Government made inquiries about the circumstances in the constituency with a view to the fairest conditions for the by-election. We found that there were two important reasons why a by-election in June, on a date to be chosen by the returning officer, would probably be better for the district: one, because of the tourist trade which, afterwards, would be rather heavy, and might distract from the by-election, and the other, an agricultural reason, not unconnected with sheep and other animals.
Having examined this impartially, with no regard to the votes of the sheep or of the tourists, the Government came to the conclusion that the constituency would be at its quietest and most susceptible in June. We therefore considered that this was a suitable time at which to move the Writ. I hope that these words will show what great trouble the Government have taken in coming to their decision, and how right and just their arguments have been. I therefore hope that the Motion may pass.