§ Mr. Jimmy Hood (Clydesdale)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
the situation that exists within Carstairs state hospital in my constituency.The matter is urgent because the breakdown in relations between the management and the staff at that hospital has resulted, following a ballot, in the staff giving seven days' notice of their intention to take strike action from Monday next week.There are 250 or so seriously ill patients in Carstairs state hospital and more than half of them are there under the direction of the Secretary of State for Scotland. If those patients are allowed to go unsupervised and uncared for for any period as a result of strike action, the consequences could be catastrophic; they would make Manchester Strangeways look like a kindergarten.
Therefore, I ask for permission to discuss the matter in the House because the Secretary of State has repeatedly refused to intervene, I am assured. I wrote to him on Monday and have had no response to my request. If the Secretary of State does not intervene before Monday, there will be a serious and catastrophic situation in my constituency and in Scotland. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you will agree to my application.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
the threatened strike at Carstairs state hospital.Again, I have listened with care to what the hon. Gentleman said, but I have to give him the same reply as I gave to the hon. Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Sir J. Stokes). I regret that his application does not meet the requirements of the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.