HC Deb 02 April 1984 vol 57 cc673-4

5.8 pm

Mr. Joseph Ashton (Bassetlaw)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the policing and picketing currently taking place in the Nottinghamshire area. In the past 10 or 14 days there have been 527 arrests in my area, with 12 more today at the power stations. There are 15,000 police on duty or on standby, with about 7,000 or 8,000 on duty at any one time. I have taken my figures from yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, which is not noted for being a paper which exaggerates, or particularly supports the miners.

We now have no-go areas, pass laws and an apartheid system whereby people cannot move around the county or move into Nottinghamshire. The Sheffield Morning Telegraph reported the case of a clergyman from Goldthorpe who was turned back at the Al roundabout on Saturday and told that he would be arrested if he went any further.

Last week, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn) and my hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Mr. Lofthouse) each tried to raise the matter under Standing Order No. 10 but there was no time available.

We went to see the Home Secretary last Thursday afternoon, and he would talk to us only about the policing costs; he would not talk about the methods or the type of policing. The Table Office refused to take questions about the police activities. The position now is that very serious incidents are occurring. There was a three-hour debate last Wednesday night in the House. You, Mr. Speaker, rightly restricted it to the discussion of redundancies and would not allow discussion on picketing.

The situation is serious because hundreds of miners are arrested, handcuffed, photographed, kept in cells for up to 26 hours, and refused telephone calls to tell their relatives what is happening to them. Their relatives are informed by the police knocking on their doors at 3 am and saying, "Your husband is in gaol." There are cells in certain police stations with notices on the cell doors stating, "Reserved for NUM pickets."

The law—which we have been led to understand allows for peaceful picketing by six people—is being blatantly disregarded. Every time pickets try to get to a pit they are warned to turn back; if they do not turn back, they are arrested. People are arrested for shouting the word "Scab". Those arrests are supposed to be for insulting or offensive behaviour. When the chief superintendent was asked what word could be used, he said, "Call them `bounders'." Make no mistake about it this is nationally organised policing. It is organised from Scotland Yard. The Government are controlling picketing by arrest. People are being hauled before courts for offensive behaviour and the courts say that they are not allowed to go near any NCB property except their own houses. They cannot even visit their mothers or sons if they live in other NCB properties.

There are no-go areas and pass laws. The situation is so serious that the House should debate it at the first opportunity.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Ashton) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely, the policing of the pickets in the coal mining dispute. I do not under-estimate in any way the seriousness of what the hon. Gentleman has said, but he knows that the difficult decision that I have to take is whether this matter should take precedence over the business set down for today or tomorrow. I listened with great care to what he said, but I regret that I do not consider that it is appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10. I therefore cannot submit his application to the House.

Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. As regards the application and your refusal of it, you will recall that during what was known as the winter of discontent, when the Labour Government were in power, several applications were made for emergency debates under the Standing Order and, if my memory serves me right, some were granted.

We all appreciate that the present circumstances are not identical, but there has never been a police presence on the scale that we have witnessed recently. Far from being a parallel with the winter of discontent, the present situation leads many people in the country to believe that civil liberties and freedoms are being threatened in a tremendous fashion, compared with what happened in the winter of 1978–79.

The point has been reached when the House must debate the issue. Paramilitary police forces are roaming all over the midlands stopping people going about their lawful business and, instead of being even-handed with pickets, attacking them in all the ways described by my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Ashton) and others. Those forces are carrying out the policy of the National Coal Board and the Prime Minister of ruling by fear. It is high time that we had a debate, and I want to know how we can get one.

Mr. Speaker

By refusing the application, I was in no way saying that I do not consider this to be a highly important matter. I have to stick by my ruling and I do not think the situation described by the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) is entirely compatible with what happened five years ago.

Mr. Kevin Barron (Rother Valley)

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker

Order. I have ruled on this matter and I think that we must leave it there.