§ Q5. Mr. Greyasked the Prime Minister why he has refused to meet a deputation from the North-East Development Council to discuss the decision to transfer the Post Office Savings Bank to Glasgow.
§ Q8. Mr. Bottomleyasked the Prime Minister why he has refused to meet a deputation from the North-East Development Council to consider the decision to transfer the Post Office Savings Bank to Glasgow and not Tees-side.
§ The Prime MinisterI explained to the Executive Committee of the North-East Development Council that the reasons for the decision to move the Post Office Savings Bank to Glasgow had been given in Parliament, and that the decision could not be changed.
I suggested that the Committee should meet my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury if it wished to discuss the prospects of decentralisation of other Government offices to the North-East of England.
§ Mr. GreyIs the Prime Minister aware that his refusal to meet a deputation from he North-East Development Council is regarded as most discourteous by its members, who think that his predecessor would have accepted the deputation, as he had done before? Is the right hon. Gentleman further aware that there is widespread opinion that he had a personal hand in the whole affair, so would it not have been better for him to have met the deputation when, if what people think is not true, he could have denied it?
§ The Prime MinisterEvery possible representation was made to the Government, not only from the North-East but from Liverpool and Glasgow, before the Government took their decision. After the Government had taken their decision, there was no reason to meet the North-East Development Council. There was no point in it. If, in the future, we can decentralise to the North-East we shall be very glad to discuss the matter.
§ Dame Irene WardWould not my right hon. Friend agree that the disappointment on the North-East Coast, and the welcome given by Scots to this decision, indicates that the compulsory direction of labour to any place would be a mistake? Is not my right hon. Friend very satisfied, therefore, that the non-use of compulsory powers was the right policy for this Government, otherwise the Scots might get away with it to the detriment of the North-East Coast?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree with some parts of what my hon. Friend has said, but not with the whole of it. This is an act of management. The Government are responsible for the Post Office, and we thought it wise in all the circumstances to send this particular branch of it to Glasgow.