HC Deb 22 January 1965 vol 705 cc629-32
Mr. Shepherd

I beg to move, in page 1, line 7, to leave out "British".

I hasten to say that this is not a campaign of anti-nationalism. It is a genuine endeavour, which I hope will meet with a better fate than my earlier one, to give the Authority a title more in keeping with its responsibilities. As some hon. Members know, in Committee there was a good deal of discussion about the inappropriateness of the existing title. There were some suggestions with which I could not agree, but I find myself without any great affection for the title "British Airports Authority". I object to it because it is not really a true reflection of the scope and activities of this Authority.

If the Parliamentary Secretary had had to go through the procedure of submitting this name either to the Registrar of Companies or the Registrar of Business Names he would not have got it through. He would have been told that it was pretentious and grandiose, and that it had various other objections, which these two men properly take into account in respect of persons who try to give to businesses titles which do not reflect their true scope. In the same way as ordinary business concerns are regulated by the Registrar of Companies and Registrar of Business Names to prevent their using misleading titles, so this misleading title should not be permitted.

My proposal is simply to call this Authority the Airports Authority. This does not make the pretence that the Authority covers the whole of Britain. It has none of the objections which can be taken to the use of the title "British Airports Authority", which is an entirely misleading title in view of the fact that the Authority will be responsible for only a tiny fraction of the number of airports in this country.

Therefore, although putting Amendments to the hon. Member is a somewhat unrewarding task, judging by my past experience, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will carefully consider not only the appropriateness of the change that I seek to make, but also the feelings of towns like Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, and will be good enough on this occasion to accept this small Amendment, which I am sure will not bring down the Government, precarious as its position is at present.

Mr. Stonehouse

I must again ask the House to reject the Amendment put forward by the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr. Shepherd)—not because I do not appreciate some of his arguments but because, as he will be aware, we had a long discussion in Committee on the appropriateness of the title, and I undertook to consider any proposals made for another name which would not give rise to the objections made to the title "British Airports Authority." No suitable name has been proposed. However, it is now crystal-clear that the British Airports Authority is not designed to take over all our airports. Municipal airports will remain outside its responsibility.

I appreciate that the hon. Member is trying to find a better name, but the title "Airports Authority", as opposed to "British Airports Authority", is open to even greater objection, as it is even more embracing than "British Airports Authority". Some of our friends overseas could well object to it because of possible misunderstandings that might arise in international conferences if the Authority were referred to in the discussions there.

Another objection to the proposed new name is that its initials will give rise to confusion with another well known organisation operating under the short title of A.A. For these reasons, and bearing in mind the fact that we have valuable precedents, in British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, for the use of the word "British", I ask the House to reject the Amendment; in fact, I would prefer the hon. Member to ask leave to withdraw it.

2.45 p.m.

Mr. Angus Maude (Stratford-on-Avon)

I am not at all sure that the Parliamentary Secretary has been very forthcoming or helpful, despite the friendly noises which he made to my hon. Friend. In fact, my recollection is that after our previous discussion the hon. Member said that he would consider any proposals which were made to him. My impression is that he undertook to consider whether he could find a better name for the Authority. That is rather a different kettle of fish. If he is interpreting the undertaking he gave merely as an opportunity to sit back and see whether anybody produces a better name to him, he is not properly carrying out the terms of his undertaking. His undertaking suggested that he would do a little brain work himself, and would exhort his advisers to do likewise. This does not seem to have produced anything effective.

I agree with the Minister about the difficulties which may be caused over the initials of my hon. Friend's proposed title, but I wonder whether the Minister wants the Authority to go through life with the initials B.A.A., as in "Baa-baa Black Sheep". It does not seem desirable. We know that almost every title which has been suggested so far has been misleading. We endeavoured to see that the implication of the word "International" got into the title, because it is intended to be an international airport authority.

One argument advanced against this was that the Authority, as it is certainly empowered to do, might wish to take over other airports which are not necessarily international. So long as it is not an all-embracing airports authority, however, the present title is unquestionably misleading. Before the Bill goes to another place I hope that the hon. Gentleman will do a little work on it, to see if he cannot do better. The present situation is not satisfactory, and we may as well get the thing right instead of allowing it to go through wrongly.

Mr. John Rankin (Glasgow, Govan)

We always pay some attention to what the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Maude) says on this subject, even though he is still plying his apprentice hand at it. We welcome his appearance on the Opposition Front Bench. But the hon. Member forgot some things in his argument, and one or two of the things he said rather disturbed me.

Surely an airport must have some relation to its location. In that sense it is a British airport. Its function may be international, but I cannot see that its international function is completely divorced from its national function. We must preserve that function, and I shall always hope to do as I am doing now, namely, travel to London Airport although I come only from Renfrew. I would not like the word "English", but I would never object to the retention of "British".

A fear is created in my mind by the attitude of the Opposition. We have British European Airways. We started with that title, and we retained it, even though many other British airways besides B.E.A. are carrying out flights to Europe. We do not suggest that there should be any alteration in the designation of British European Airways because of that. If the hon. Member's suggestion were accepted I would also fear for the future of B.O.A.C. We all want to retain that Corporation's present designation, even though there are independents who are also doing overseas flying. For those reasons, in my view, this is an adequate descriptive title and I hope that my hon. Friend will retain it.

Mr. Shepherd

Naturally, I am disappointed by the reply of the hon. Gentleman. I would not for one moment accept the view of the hon. Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Rankin) that because one accepts the need for the word "British" in the flag carrier, the word "British" is equally essential for attaching to the name of the Airports Authority. As I have now to dash to my constituency and have no further time to discuss this matter with the Parliamentary Secretary, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.