PIRATE RADIO STATIONS

HC Deb 08 December 1965 vol 722 cc423-6

The following Question stood upon the Order Paper:

88. Mr. HUGH JENKINS

To ask the Postmaster-General if he will give an assurance that he will not license pirate or other commercial radio stations.

The Postmaster-General (Mr. Anthony Wedgwood Benn)

With permission, I should like to answer Question No. 88.

I must ask my hon. Friend to await the outcome of the study the Government are making of the whole subject of local sound broadcasting. But there is no question of my licensing the pirate stations, some of which by transmitting from forts within United Kingdom territorial limits and jurisdiction are rendering themselves liable to prosecution under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts. Unless these transmissions cease, prosecutions may follow.

Mr. Jenkins

Is my right hon. Friend aware that that statement will give great satisfaction both generally and particularly to those whose performances are being pirated? Will he answer two points arising from his reply? First, can he say whether the prosecutions which are referred to in the latter part of his reply will be carried out by the Director of Public Prosecutions? Secondly, will he say when he will be introducing legislation to deal with those pirates who are not within the territorial area of the United Kingdom?

Mr. Benn

There is another Question down today about legislation. I repeat what I said earlier, that it will be introduced as soon as practicable. With regard to the enforcement of the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, this is the responsibility of my own Department and is not done by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr. Bryan

Is the right hon. Gentleman confident that he has the powers to do what he says he may do? For instance, how does one get at these ships? Secondly, who owns the forts upon which some of these stations are based? Thirdly, will he answer the second part of Question No. 88, in which he is asked if he will give an assurance that he will not license pirate or other commercial radio stations"?

Mr. Benn

I have explained in my Answer, as the hon. Gentleman will see, that my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Hugh Jenkins) must await the outcome of the study of local sound broadcasting which the Government are making. On the earlier questions, this is a matter of the Wireless Telegraphy Acts and not a matter of the ownership of the forts. The offence, if there is an offence, is committed against Acts which it is my responsibility to enforce, whatever the territory or whoever owns the property from which the broadcasts might come. On the question of access, this is a problem of law enforcement which is not uncommon and which applies in many other cases, although there are geographical difficulties when the forts are off the coast.

Mr. Frank Allaun

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that, very largely, it is young people who listen to these stations, which are broadcasting cigarette advertisements in a big way? If commercial television stations are prevented, rightly, from doing this, should not it be made to apply to commercial radio stations?

Mr. Benn

There are many objections to the pirate radio stations, to one of which my hon. Friend has referred. The others are that we are internationally committed to the ending of the pirate radio stations and that there is interference. We have recently had complaints from as far away as Yugoslavia that the pirates are interfering. There is the copyright question, and there is a real danger to shipping in that these transmissions get on the same wavelength as ship-to-shore radio, thus endangering those at sea generally.

Mr. Buck

While accepting that there are objections to pirate radio stations, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will recognise that they are meeting a demand for this sort of programme? Would not he agree that the best way to deal with the problem is by meeting this demand himself by allowing commercial radio stations to operate on an experimental basis? Why has it taken him a year to sort out his views on this matter?

Mr. Benn

The Government feel that the decisions taken about the future of broadcasting, including local broadcasting and who should run it and what form it should take, are important enough to merit serious study. I have not the slighest intention of having my hand forced by a commercial lobby who have found a loophole in international law and are trying to compel us to accept their solution.

Mr. Gibson-Watt

Would the Postmaster-General accept that his remarks today about the shipping and Continental troubles were made by him in the debate which took place many months ago? He says today that he will introduce legislation as soon as practicable. Was that also the case when he made his remarks in the debate?

Mr. Benn

As a result of negotiations in which both this Government and the previous Government were concerned, this country has committed itself to action, and, as I have made clear, legislation will be introduced as soon as possible. Some of these stations are within our existing jurisdiction without legislation. Inquiries have been made about this. They have taken some time. I am now in a position to make this statement today. But it does not represent an alteration of policy from what I made clear in the House earlier.

Mr. Molloy

Will my right hon. Friend give the House an absolutely categorical assurance that he will in no way allow the vulgar, illegal commercialisms of these stations to endanger the lives—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—I know that this is a joke with Members opposite—of people of all nations who follow their pursuits and professions in mercantile marine?

Mr. Benn

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for putting more vividly what I said in conformity with the normal pattern of a Parliamentary Answer.

Several Hon. Members rose——

Mr. Speaker

Order. We must leave the pirates there.