§ 5. Mr. Michael McNair-Wilsonasked the Minister of Transport if he will make a statement on his consultations on the implementation of the EEC tachograph regulations.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Mr. Kenneth Clarke)As my right hon. Friend indicated in his reply to the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox) on 21 May, he has now invited the main representative bodies to meet him. He will be seeing them all during the next few weeks.
§ Mr. McNair-WilsonIs there any time limit on the consultations? When does my hon. Friend expect the directive to be implemented?
§ Mr. ClarkeRegulations will be laid as soon as the consultations are completed, which we expect to be in the autumn. We have not yet started the consultations, and it is too early to give a definite timetable.
§ Mr. CrowtherWill the Minister give the House an idea of one benefit to this country that will accrue from the introduction of this very expensive piece of bureaucratic big-brotherism? Does he not understand that the massive number of abstentions in the European Assembly elections was the result not of apathy but of positive opposition to the EEC and all its works? What penalty will Britain 1299 incur if we say that we want nothing to do with this nonsense and that we shall continue to operate our own system?
§ Mr. ClarkeI am surprised that the hon. Gentleman takes that view. The Labour Government accepted that we were bound by the decision of the European Court, and the present consultations are about how we implement the tachograph, not whether we do so. I think that when these consultations have taken place, it will be found that experience in other countries has not given rise to many of the problems which are now feared in this country.