§ 3.20 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)My Lords, in 1959 there was passed the Emergency Laws (Repeal) Act which did not merely repeal emergency laws but preserved the few remaining Defence Regulations that we thought it a good thing to keep on in peace time. The Act was for a period of only five years, and it expires in December of this year. It is therefore necessary, if we still want to preserve those remaining Defence Regulations, to have fresh legislation; and that is contained in this Bill.
In some cases, such as the Treasury control over hire-purchase and foreign exchange (dealt with in Clauses 1 and 2), the controls are now made permanent; similarly with the Ministry of Health control over the welfare food service. This is because we think that these controls, although they started off in the form of Defence Regulations, are now a necessary part of our modern economy. Other powers, such as the Minister of Agriculture's power to fix the maximum price of milk, are continued for five years, until 1969, but after that they can be further prolonged by an Order in Council, subject to an Affirmative Resolution of both Houses of Parliament, so that fresh legislation need not necessarily be brought in.
There is only one Defence Regulation of any wide importance that is being allowed to lapse under this Bill, and that is the Regulation under Defence Regulation 55B, which enabled the Government to control the price and supply of materials and food if the need arose owing to an emergency overseas. It is discontinued because, under a recent Act which Parliament passed amending the Emergency Laws Act, 1920, the Government are now enabled to control the distribution and supply of the necessities of life in an emergency, whether it arises overseas or at home. Since the purpose of this former legislation is now covered by this other legislation, there is now no longer any 941 need to continue it. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(The Earl of Dundee.)
§ LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETHMy Lords, we are obliged to the noble Earl for his explanation of this Bill—it was brief but adequate—and I should like to congratulate the Government on having come so far in the direction of Labour Party policy. I hope I am in order—I think I am, but, in the absence of the noble Lord the Leader of the House, perhaps I can get through,anyway—in saying that some of us may remember how, at the General Election of 1945, Mr. Churchill (as he then was) advocated with great vigour the scrapping of controls, regulations and so on. That, of course, was exactly what the predominantly Conservative Government did after the First World War, when the cry was, "Business as usual!" Everything went, and chaos resulted—particularly, in the absence of economic controls, mass unemployment, depression and so on. Owing to the good sense of the country in electing a Labour Government in 1945, that did not take place after the Second World War, when we did a first-class job in keeping the country going.
The noble Earl, Lord Dundee, rightly pointed out that one of the Regulations, Defence Regulation 55B—in fact, Regulation 55 as a whole—was a very important Regulation; and a very valuable one, too. Not only has that Regulation been repealed but it has now been converted into permanent legislation; and the same thing has happened in a number of other cases. So that, far from all the Defence Regulations having been destroyed, some of them have been not only preserved as emergency laws but converted into permanent legislation—additional proof against the Conservative Party's policy at the General Election of 1945. Now I am not denouncing the Conservative Party for seeing the light—in fact, I am delighted whenever they do see the light, and I only wish I had more opportunities for being delighted—but this is a confession that, in principle, the Labour Party has been right and the Conservative Party has been wrong.
After all, this is a considerable list—not exhaustive, by any means, but some of them have been converted into per- 942 manent legislation—of emergency powers which the Government are taking by this Bill. There is hire-purchase control; there is the important power of the Treasury to prohibit action on certain orders as to gold, et cetera, which is a very considerable power as to precious metals and, presumably, indirectly, as to currency. There are temporary powers for the purposes of defence; welfare foods; medical supplies; and temporary control by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State of the maximum prices of milk. Then there are supplemental provisions as to orders and directions; notices, authorisations and the proof of documents; and as to the territorial extent of Part I. This is a fairly considerable list. Further, in Part II of the Bill there is provision for the continuance of other emergency laws and supplemental provisions, including the Ships and Aircraft (Transfer Restriction) Act, 1939; the power of the Board of Trade to trace in jute products (which sounds a promising section of this Bill); the exercise of powers of the Board of Trade; expenses; and Northern Ireland, which are probably drafting provisions.
This Bill represents a limited measure of progress on the part of the Conservative Government in the direction of recognising that it is not possible easily to run a modern, complex society without these powers and that the Government cannot easily refrain from having certain emergency powers whereby abuses or disturbances to the economic order or otherwise might occur. I therefore congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Dundee. I wish he had brought a note of apology into his speech, or, at any rate, of confession that they had seen the light that the Labour Party has been using so vigorously and so beneficially, and from which they have had an advantage for so many years. We welcome the Bill, and we shall not give any trouble about it. Whether it is adequate as regards these emergency powers, I am not sure, but time will show. At any rate, so far as it goes, we welcome it and we congratulate the noble Earl on being the spokesman on behalf of the Government when partially reversing the ignorant Conservative policy of 1945, and on the fact that they are beginning to see wisdom, which we go on preaching to them because we love our country even more than we love our Party. If 943 we can convert the Government to doing sensible things, we do not grumble, we rejoice. On this occasion we engage in limited rejoicing, which is all that the Government deserve—but they do deserve that.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord. There are only two things he has omitted to do. One is to claim credit for the Labour Government for repealing about 90 per cent. of the controls which were under discussion in 1945, and the other is to tell us what new controls his Party would now impose if they were returned to office—something that we should all very much like to know. Our answer to that question, my Lords, is a short one, and is contained in this Bill—and I am glad that the noble Lord goes that distance with us.
On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.