Lords Sitting of 31 October 1972

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH
The QUEEN, being seated on the Throne, and attended by Her Officers of State (the Lords being in their robes), commanded the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, through the Lord Great Chamberlain, to let the Commons know, "It is Her Majesty's pleasure they attend Her immediately in this House."
Who being come, with their Speaker:
Her Majesty was pleased to speak as follows:
"My Lords and Members of the House of Commons,
"My Husband and I look forward to our visits to Canada and Australia.
"My Government will play a full and constructive part in the enlarged European Communities. They look forward to the opportunities membership will bring, for developing the country's full economic and industrial potential, for working out social and environmental policies on a European scale, and for increasing the influence of the enlarged Community for the benefit of the world at large.
"My Ministers will seek to maintain and strengthen the North Atlantic Alliance. They will continue to sustain
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the Commonwealth association. My Government seek a positive improvement in East-West relations and are preparing in co-operation with their allies for a conference on security and co-operation in Europe. They will work for peace in the Middle East and in Indo-China. They seek to build upon the improved relations with China and hope for a peaceful and lasting settlement in the South Asian Sub-Continent.
"My Government will work for co-operation within the United Nations; will support the United Nations law of the sea negotiations; and will continue to pursue agreed measures of arms control and disarmament. They will co-operate with other Governments in combating international terrorism. A Bill will be introduced to enable My Government to give effect to the Montreal Convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation.
"My Government are determined to protect the right of British fishermen to fish on the high seas off Iceland. They remain ready to reach an amicable interim agreement with the Government of Iceland.
"My Government will continue their efforts to ensure that United Kingdom passport holders evened from Uganda have the widest possible choice of countries in which to settle. Help will be given to those who settle here and to local authorities that need to make special provision for them.
"My Ministers will continue to search resolutely for peaceful and just solutions to the political, social and economic problems of Northern Ireland. They are resolved that terrorism and violence shall be brought to an end. The reform of local government will be completed. Legislation will be introduced to provide for a poll on the question of the Border; and to make available additional grant and loan finance to the Northern Ireland Exchequer.
"Members of the House of Commons,
"Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.
"My Lords and Members of the House of Commons,
"At home, My Government's overriding concern, as Britain enters the European Communities, will be to promote the high and sustained rate of economic growth which is essential for the achievement of their policies of providing increased employment and rising living standards, as well as for the provision of better houses, schools, and social services. To that end, they will continue their efforts to establish effective means of enabling a faster growth of national output and real incomes to be maintained consistently with a reduction in the rate of inflation.
"It is My Government's intention to resume the maintenance of agreed margins round a fixed parity for sterling as soon as circumstances permit.
"My Government will continue to pursue the reform of taxation, the burden of which they have already greatly reduced.
"In developing their policies for economic growth My Government will pursue their measures to create confidence and stimulate employment in the assisted areas.
"Legislation will be brought before you to establish an improved organisation for the Government's manpower services including a reform of the system of industrial training.
"Special help will continue to be given to those in need through the social security system and by means of rebates and allowances; and a Bill will
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be introduced to extend rent allowances to tenants of furnished accommodation.
"Extra help will continue to be provided for areas of special social need.
"Legislation will be introduced to promote fair trading and competition; and to improve the provisions of the law regarding insurance companies. Other measures to protect the consumer will be proposed.
"A measure will be introduced to facilitate the building of a Third London Airport at Maplin.
"My Government will continue to encourage, within the framework of the European Economic Community, a strong agricultural industry and the efficient production and marketing of food in this country.
"My Government will take further positive action on the protection and improvement of the environment. A Bill will be laid before you to reorganise the management of water resources in England and Wales.
"Legislation will be introduced to provide improved compensation for persons whose land is acquired by public authorities and for the injurious effects of public works schemes.
"A Bill will be introduced to reform local government in Scotland. Legislation will be laid before you to reform certain aspects of local government finance in England and Wales; and to establish machinery for investigating complaints of maladministration in local government.
"A Bill will be laid before you to reorganise the administration of the National Health Service in England and Wales and to establish a health service commissioner to deal with complaints.
"Legislation will be introduced to reform the finances of the national insurance scheme and to encourage the more widespread development and improvement of occupational pension schemes.
"My Ministers will carry out their announced annual review of retirement and public service pensions and related benefits.
"My Ministers will present to Parliament proposals to extend the

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education service and to set new priorities.
"My Government will vigorously pursue policies for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders. They are especially concerned at the continued growth in manifestations of violence. They will press forward plans for strengthening the police, prison and probation and aftercare services, developing the prison building programme and implementing the Criminal Justice Act.
"Measures will be introduced to make further reforms in the law and improvements in the administration of justice.
"Other measures will be laid before you.
"My Lords and Members of the House of Commons,
"I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels."
House adjourned during pleasure.
House resumed at half-past three of the clock: The LORD CHANCELLOR On the Woolsack.
Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln.

SELECT VESTRIES
Bill, pro forma, read 1a
ADDRESS IN REPLY TO HER MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH
The Queen's Speech reported by The LORD CHANCELLOR.
3.46 p.m.
LORD BLAKE: My Lords, I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows:
"Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for
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the most gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament."
My Lords, I deeply appreciate the honour of being invited by my noble friend the Leader of the House to move the humble Address to Her Majesty. As a political historian by trade, I have often studied the forms, traditions and procedures of Parliament and, indeed, tried to teach them to the young. Those who teach are notoriously bad at doing; so it is with no small apprehension as well as high gratification that I find myself actually participating personally in one of the most venerable and famous of traditional Parliamentary procedures. I hope that your Lordships will extend to me your customary kindness and toleration on an even more lavish scale than usual.
My Lords, we have heard from the gracious Speech that Her Majesty and Prince Philip will be going on State visits this year, the year of their Silver Wedding, to Canada and Australia. I am sure that your Lordships will join with me in wishing them well in a task which is bound to be strenuous and tiring as well as interesting and rewarding. In Sydney, I understand, Her Majesty will be opening the new Opera House, one of the most controversial and costly buildings in the world—and one that has not been built by Sir Basil Spence.
Despite the torrent of words about our entry into the E.E.C. that has been poured out in this House and in the other place, I cannot refrain from some allusion to the second paragraph of the gracious Speech. The Bill Las now received the Royal Assent and from January 1 next year we shall be a part of the European Community. This is an historic decision on any account. We have all read enough of history to know that historical occasions very seldom turn out exactly as expected, either by the optimists or by the pessimists. If somebody in ten years' time, or twenty or fifty years' time, tries to strike a balance sheet of the results of our entry, I do not expect, though a supporter of it, that it will all be profit. On the other hand, still less do I expect the opponents of our entry to find that it is all loss, Profit or loss, the picture may well be something very different from what we envisage to-day.

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If I ask myself why I agree that we were right to take this momentous step, I do not dwell on the economic advantages, although there are great potential economic advantages; it is rather that the whole balance of world political power is involved. The days of seaborne empires based on small nations have gone: Portugal, Spain, Holland, France and, greatest of all, Britain. Whether we like it or not, strength and influence in the world of to-day have gone more and more to the "big battalions", the nation States with a large population based on a large chunk of some continent: the United States, Russia, China. Why this is so is a difficult question to answer. It reminds me of a story in the admirable forthcoming second volume of Lady Longford's Life of the Duke of Wellington. Lord Mahon asked the Duke whether Napoleon had had more effect on his environment than his environment had had on Napoleon. "It would require a volume to answer that", said the Duke, "I shall go upstairs and take off my muddy boots. "My Lords, I am not at all sure that I can take off my boots, although they are of the Wellington variety. But, in spite of that, I will not inflict a volume on you.
The point, my Lords, is that, whether we like it or not, this has come to be the case; and if this is true, then Britain by herself can never be a great Power again in that sense. But a Western Europe which acquired a measure of political and military unity would be a world Power by any reckoning. With a population of 250 million, and a highly advanced technological and industrial base such a grouping could exercise, for good or ill, a major influence on world peace and world prosperity. I believe that a united Western Europe, with its long tradition of civilisation and maturity has its own valuable contribution to make and I believe that Britain can make that contribution even more valuable. So I welcome our accession to the Community with profound satisfaction and high hope for the future.
My Lords, there is another point which I hope your Lordships will not think too far-fetched. Is there a hope perhaps, albeit a distant one, that membership of Europe will in the long run bring some measure of reconciliation to the contend-
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ing racial and religious groups in Ireland? This may seem a distant hope at present but at least the common membership of the Republic and Britain in an enlarged European Community cannot worsen the situation and it might in the long run make it better. Northern Ireland, my Lords, is one of the greatest and gravest problems that confronts us today. I welcome the statement in the gracious Speech that the Government will persevere with their policy of reconciliation and suppression of terrorism. However long, weary and frustrating that path has been and may well be there is in the Irish question a melancholy sense of the endless repetition of history. So much that has happened to-day was happening yesterday, the day before, and will, one fears, be happening to-morrow. One has heard it all before and the story seems unending. There was the famous speech by Sir Winston Churchill in 1922 when he referred to the enormous changes wrought all over the world by the Great War; everywhere, except in Ireland. He said:
"But as the deluge subsides and the waters fall we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again. The integrity of their quarrel is one of the few institutions that have been unaltered in the cataclysm which has swept the world."
And there, my Lords,mutatis mutandis, "the dreary steeples" still are. Would that they were not!
For many years, nearly half a century, it did not seem entirely implausible to believe that the old "Irish question" had become extinct so far as Britain was concerned. I certainly believed this. In a biography of Bonar Law, the father of my noble friend Lord Coleraine, I wrote seventeen years ago a passage which should be a warning to all historians who are impertinent enough to categorise the present and, by implication, predict the future. I wrote this:
"Except within Ireland's own shores the great struggle has vanished to the realm of 'old unhappy far-off things and battles long ago.'In England the quarrels of Home Rulers and Unionists, Nationalists and Orangemen have become as remote as those curious disputes with which Gibbon so agreeably entertains us in his chapters on the early Christian Church."
Well, my Lords, I could not have been more wrong. Historians clearly should stick to the past. But are there any

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things to be learned from the Anglo-Irish past? I would venture to suggest there are three. First, nothing has been more fatal to Irish affairs than the confusion, obscurity, vacillation and uncertainty. Secondly, violence and murder have paid off only when there has been a just cause behind them, however indefensible the methods used. When this has not been so they have been counterproductive. Violence may have achieved self-government for Eire, but it immensely hardened the position of the Ulster Unionists. And, thirdly, my Lords, even in Ireland war weariness and exhaustion can bring a halt, or at least a lull, in the endless struggle. It has in the past, as it did in the early years of the 19th century, and it did again for many years before 1968 when it all burst out again. There may be a sense in which the Irish problem is insoluble but at least the heat can be, and often in the past has been, taken out of it.
I welcome the Consultative Document published yesterday. It reaffirms as categorically as anything can that Northern Ireland will, and must, remain part of the United Kingdom unless the majority of its inhabitants determine otherwise. It also makes clear that this does not give Northern Ireland the right to determine how it should be governed as a part of the United Kingdom. That is in the last resort a matter for Westminster, and for Westminster alone. My Lords, we must not be too pessimistic. It is barely more than seven months since, for the first time after half a century, there has been an Administration in Stormont palpably and obviously detached from the communal struggles which vex the Province. This genuine impartiality—and even at the risk of repeating what has often been said in your Lordships' House I should like to reiterate my deep admiration for the courageous work of my right honourable friend Mr. Whitelaw and that of my noble friend Lord Windlesham—will need time to take effect, even to be noticed, in the turbulent politics of Ulster, feverish, inward-looking, parochial and hectic as they are bound to be.
The task of the Armed Forces is a singularly unenviable one, but it is just as important there as it would be in a conventional war. Like so many of your Lordships I served in the Army in the last war—in fact in the Royal Artillery.
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The motto of the Royal Regiment is, "Ubique quo fas et glories ducunt", which I would translate (if I may venture to do so in the presence of the noble and learned Lord who sits on the Woolsack, and who is a distinguished classical scholar) as, "Wherever right and glory lead". Well, my Lords, "right and glory" led me to some strange and uncomfortable places, but never to a situation remotely as trying, nerve-racking and exhausting as that which the young men who are serving in Northern Ireland to-day. Of their dedication, their courage and their sense of duty it is impossible to speak too highly.
My Lords, if Northern Ireland is one of our greatest problems, what used to be called "the condition of England" is the other; and England, for this purpose, includes Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is a deeply divided Province where law and order have, if not broken down at least become gravely weakened. Britain is a long way from that state as yet, but there are ominous It is an old and perhaps hackneyed usage among Conservative speakers to appeal to Disraeli's famous phrase, "One nation". The hackneyed and time-honoured shibboleths are not for that reason necessarily foolish, wrong or irrelevant. I believe that this is a most important matter for the Party from which the Government are composed, and which I support. "One nation" does nest mean a smooth, monolithic single-Party or noParty State. Disraeli himself observed that
"without Party connection…a Parliamentary Constitution would degenerate into a corrupt despotism."
There are many countries where this is just what has happened. Nor does "One nation" mean an appeal to "the Dunkirk spirit". There is a degree of unity in war which cannot be expected to prevail in peace. Nostalgic references to it are likely to depreciate the currency of political debate rather than otherwise. But "One nation" does imply that there are certain legal, practical and accepted limits within which the political and Party battle is fought; and that in the end the opinion of the majority will, after all due and proper consideration of minority views, prevail and be obeyed.
So I would welcome the proposals in the gracious Speech concerning two

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matters, perhaps not obviously connected; namely, inflation and the threat to law and order. In spite of this apparent incongruity, I think there is a link. The danger which we face to-day in our society is division—division of classes, of economic interests and of races. My Lords, there is no greater divisive force in this country than inflation. It is a standing invitation to greed, selfishness, fear, bitterness and bullying. It is also the golden opportunity for those who have the conscious purpose of disrupting the free, friendly, of course imperfect and at times inefficient yet basically kindly social order which still prevails in Britain. I believe that there really is a tide in public opinion supporting the efforts of my right honourable friend the Prime Minister in his endeavours to persuade these competing interests to think in terms of the wider interest which concerns all of us. If his efforts fail, then other measures may be necessary in the end. The Government must in the last resort govern.
My Lords, in pursuing his recent negotiations my right honourable friend the Prime Minister has been accused of doing a "U" turn. Perhaps this is so. But when new and unexpected facts cause someone to change his mind, should he not perhaps deserve credit rather than discredit? One of the greatest Conservative Prime Ministers, Sir Robert Peel, performed a "U" turn, if ever there was one, over the Corn Laws, but he has not gone down to history as a man who behaved dishonestly or wrongly.
There is much else, my Lords, that I should like to mention if I had time. The concept of "One nation" and a fair society must include fair play for unfortunate minorities. I welcome the reference to the Uganda Asians in the gracious Speech. I hope that the promised help to local authorities really will be given, and given readily, without unnecessary delay or hair-splitting. My noble friend Lady Macleod, in moving the Address last year—and I only wish that I could emulate her eloquence and elegance—referred to the anxiety about violent crime. Alas! one's anxiety is no less a year later. The proposals in the gracious Speech with regard to crime and law and order deserve the strongest support. A society in which laws are habitu-
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ally broken, or in which people choose which laws they mean to obey, can never be a fair or just society.
My Lords, I should like to end on a note, not of alarm and despondency but of mild anxiety. There has been a great deal in the Press recently about the threat which failure to control inflation and to solve our economic problems poses to our free institutions. Some of this may be exaggerated. I do not think there is an Oliver Cromwell round the corner about to demand the removal of baubles, nor a clique of colonels from the Brigade of Guards, or even of superannuated Gunner captains about to take over the Government. But it is true that for some ten years or more now there has been an increasing mistrust in the efficacy of Parliament. Such moods of doubt have occurred in the past, and they have occurred always when the governmental system, the system under which we live, appeared to be failing to cope with the problems that lay ahead of it. We live in just such a period now. It is worth remembering that there is nothing inevitable or pre-ordained in the long survival of free institutions in Britain, which have been so often, and still are, the envy of the world. They survive because the history of Britain has been a history of success. I am not so sure that they will survive if it becomes a history of failure. I believe that the proposals in the gracious Speech will do something to make Britain a less divided, a more prosperous and a more governable nation; something to restore success and to overcome failure. My Lords, I beg to move the Motion for an humble Address to Her Majesty.
Moved, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows:
"Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament."—(Lord Blake.)
4.7 p.m.
THE EARL OF DUDLEY: My Lords, I beg to second my noble friend's Motion for an humble Address in reply to Her Majesty's most gracious Speech. I do not think anyone could stand here to-day,

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especially on this occasion, without feeling a deep sense of the unique and glorious traditions of our country. If we like ceremony, it is not for its own sake but because it symbolises British qualities of which we are rightly proud: courage in war; service and duty in peace; honour—elusive and exemplary; and, above all, high achievement from generation to generation. Pageantry records these qualities and achievements and is a method of sharing them with others.
I also feel a sense of humility and of trepidation at following my noble friend Lord Blake, almost fully attired in the panoply of the Royal Artillery, knowing that his wit is as well aimed as his cannon and far more graceful. As a former undergraduate at Christ Church, where my noble friend studied and taught, when he was not taking the Queen's shilling, I should like to express my appreciation of his remarks and my regret that he plumped for the theory rather than the practice of politics, thereby leaving the way open for Balliol. I am also thankful to my noble friend the Leader of the House for striking a blow for the hereditary system by giving me the opportunity to be the fourth generation to take part in these proceedings as seconder or mover of an humble Address. In fact, I consider myself very lucky to be standing here at all, because I understand that the survival of the hereditary Peers in this House was due to support from an unexpected quarter, which may well be withdrawn now that most noble Lords have shown that they prefer the metre to the foot. Until then, I shall continue to regard it a privilege to take part in your Lordships' debates and ceremonies, and never more than to-day.
My Lords, I really think it very sad that this House is divided about Britain's association with Europe. I should have much preferred to speak for all noble Lords in welcoming this important aspect of the gracious Speech. I regret that I can only hope to please with my remarks the majority who believe that Britain should combine with Europe to secure a more lasting peace and a more plentiful life for our people, even if some grumble at the price.
This will be an historic Parliament. On New Year's Day we join Europe. We shall always glorify our past, but on
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that day we should proclaim our future, above all to our young people, who have in Europe the opportunity to create the kind of scene which they expect for themselves and their descendants. I think it right to say this to-day, even though I judge noble Lords' thoughts to be far removed from a uniform society and culture. That is not the object of European unification, which will take its own forms. Western Europe, composed of proud and ancient peoples, does not resemble the United States. I foresee a Europe in which the nation States will keep their individualities and institutions. But among these national traits, in every Community country, in Government, the Arts, industry and the professions, European men and women will appear. I am not being fanciful: such people exist already and they will grow in numbers. The springs of European social and political consciousness have begun to flow and will become streams of thought and activity refreshed by a democratically constituted Assembly. To help Europe find a new identity and a new philosophy should be part of Britain's contribution to an enlarged Community.
I have used the label "European" to describe those people's expectations. They will be fulfilled by the Community's monetary, economic and industrial policies, by its social and environmental policies. Those are the visible horizons. Then there is the middle ground, whose outlines have become clearer since the Parts talks: the European Monetary and Regional Development Fund, and closer, economic and industrial integration. The foreground is the familiar scene: Commission; Common Agricultural Policy; European Assembly. That is the European perspective. The long-term benefits depend on our capacity to adapt; the short-term rewards depend on our ability to compete.
The City of London is well, equipped and able to meet both these requirements. It should be first among European capital-raising centres, if not too domineering. It has the most experience to harmonise financial and commercial standards and procedures. This is essential for multinational companies to grow and for the economies of scale to be fully realised. I have been associated during 25 years with light and heavy industry. I have known good and bad managements; I

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have seen labour under or out of control; and I know Europe. Failing extra effort, it will be difficult to compete. We have it in us to succeed, but our record is uneven. Our advanced industries lead in Europe. Our computers are unique and our company financial structures are better than in the Six; their corporate size is greater, their net profits higher. But investments are nearly 30 per cent. lower; unit costs of labour are higher; and productivity lags behind in many important areas. Growth was 50 per cent. less. Prices rose last year by nearly double the average for the Six, and there has been a slight but persistent trade deficit. Even allowing for the effect of tariffs, the challenge is clear. British industry must respond to it.
Britain should also respond to Europe's challenge to the Commonwealth and to Commonwealth unity. No doubt noble Lords wish the Government to continue to discharge Britain's obligations to the Commonwealth, but when we see a pretty standard paragraph about the Commonwealth in the gracious Speech, some of us may wonder whether it says what it really means. I think there is public disenchantment—certainly there is disappointment over Rhodesia and Uganda, and a need for a new appraisal. Ties remain strong and, I hope, secure with those former Dominions of which Her Majesty is Queen. Elsewhere there are grounds for pessimism. Some peoples have rejected the proud and unifying tradition of monarchy. Commercial and financial links with former Empire countries get weaker; the full gale of competition blows through Commonwealth markets. And if Commonwealth countries see their role as an influence for peace, some have not set an inspiring example in recent years. Yet the Commonwealth extends to every continent and could be a unique force for peace. For this reason, it must remain united. Britain should pay the price of leadership by helping the under-developed countries, and the Government should watch that threats to Commonwealth unity from within and without do not destroy it.
Commonwealth unity and European unification as instruments for peace and for a more plentiful life. Though noble Lords may judge these to be credible and compatible aims within the broad outlines
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of Government policy, the public remain to be convinced about Europe and reassured about the Commonwealth. This is an exceptionally difficult time for Government. There is public apathy about our overseas commitments. There is disorder and disunity in the Kingdom, and there are real fears about the pace of inflation. When I first spoke to noble Lords I said I hoped the economy would get airborne. I expected it to go forward like a jet. Instead, it has behaved more like Montgolfier's Balloon. The balloon must not be allowed to run away: it must be held captive. A free economy should not be allowed to become an uncontrolled economy. As with jet or balloon, loss of control results in loss of freedom, and most likely in disaster. The economy must be brought under control, otherwise the Government will lose still further their freedom of action.
I have no doubt that the Government's decision when they took Office, to make faster growth the first priority of economic policy, was right. Legislation and other measures have been directed towards this aim. There have been reduced taxation, increases in allowances, benefits and pensions, cash repayments and easier credit—all leading to a record rise in consumer expenditure and a higher level of savings. There is a growing belief that, as a result of these measures, the Chancellor's target of 5 per cent. will be reached this year, and even surpassed. But inflation can nullify all this solid achievement.
Faced with inflation and its consequences, the Government have acted with notable moderation and have searched diligently and at length for a voluntary agreement on prices and incomes. They have now come up with the package. I do not think it appropriate for me to give the package its due to-day, but noble Lords will agree that it has the merit of equalising wage settlements, where disparities cause serious friction in a period of wage restraint; and it offers help to the lower paid. Wage and salary earners' demands are also influenced by the likely movement of prices. On this point the Government's philosophy has been checks rather than controls. I suspect that they would settle for reserve powers. But I think they are right to insist on voluntary agreement; and right to resist price controls. The C.B.I. cannot reasonably be expected to enter into

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a loveless marriage of convenience with a shotgun at its back.
I do not think the shot-gun has yet been used on the agreement or that the time has come to call it "the late lamented agreement". It would be premature to suggest to noble Lords that they shed tears, crocodile or otherwise, for it. Timing has no doubt dictated that Government economic policy, as reaffirmed in the gracious Speech, seems to be unchanged. But I feel obliged even to-day to make the point that a policy which would be praiseworthy with the package agreed will no longer be viable without it. At the risk of controversiality, must put forward my view that if agreement fails fighting inflation should take priority over faster growth. The Chancellor will have only three buttons to press: one marked "Controls"; the second marked "Money"; and the third, "Taxes". He can press one, two or all. I remind the House of the words of the Governor of the Bank of England at the Mansion House on October 19, when he said:
"There is no monetary policy which will simultaneously stimulate expansion and moderate inflation."
With inflation raging at force 7, and the ocean of money building up over 20 per cent., these words should be a clear signal for the helmsman to change course, especially with mutiny on board. I accept that the manoeuvre is very much easier for a ship of sail than a ship of State. But inflation must be countered. And I reject the thought that there is any such thing as a tolerable rate of inflation. The figure of 3½ per cent. is less intolerable than 7 per cent., and 7 per cent. less so than 12 per cent. The only tolerable rate is zero—the only acceptable, non-vicious circle, nought.
Whatever policy the Government decide upon will have to be accepted or fought out on the shop floor. Even a moderate policy, based on voluntary agreement, might have led to increased industrial action from those militants whose policies do not include peace and prosperity under Tory or Labour Governments; nor under a coalition of the noble Lords, Lord Byers, Lord George-Brown and Lord Thomson of Fleet. The militants cannot retreat. They must counter-attack; and would have been supported by those who
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found package and agreement unacceptable. No noble Lords want or would welcome confrontation. But if it comes, every method should be explored to isolate and discredit the extremists. If Government policy to counter inflation could only receive the support of moderate opinion within organised labour, they and the whole British people would be within sight of prosperity without precedent.
If support is not forthcoming the Government will be faced with a crisis of authority. I know that noble Lords generally support moderate policies and welcome voluntary agreement. I share their views. But I must also say this to my noble friends, at the risk of being ungracious on this gracious occasion. There is a point in time when moderate policies cease to be effective or conducive to public confidence; when the Government's patience outlasts that of the nation; and when public opinion cries out for the job to be done and completed, regardless of the consequences. That point has almost arrived with inflation. It may soon be reached with the militants. And it may also eventually be reached with Ulster.
My Lords, if the decision had been taken to televise Parliamentary business this afternoon's programme in this House could for the first time have been called, "Beat the Clock"; and I have not so far done very well. I cannot possibly comment on all the wide-ranging measures in the gracious Speech which interest noble Lords and benefit the nation—fair trading, pensions, in surance, National Health and the like. They seem less controversial than some Bills which the Government have presented in previous Sessions; and the noble Earl, the Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms, tells me that they will take up less time than before. I am rather sceptical about this when it comes to Bills emanating from the Department of the Environment, in view of its known preference for detaining noble Lords in these splendid but artificial surroundings at a time when your Lordships would normally be occupied under the auspices of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. I have a suspicion that the eminently sensible project for improving the water resources of these Islands may require noble Lords to find fountains of wisdom and to draw upon

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reservoirs of energy at an inconvenient time. Perhaps the noble Earl the Leader of the House will prevail upon his colleagues to let your Lordships have the first draft of this refreshing Bill.
Finally, my Lords, whether or no my noble friends on the Front Bench make too many demands upon your Lordships' time and patience, I am sure the whole House holds them in such esteem as to wish them well—personally, if not politically—in the coming Session of Parliament; that they and their friends in another place will persevere to achieve a more united nation and to inspire widespread confidence, and that the measures outlined in the gracious Speech will be helpful to those ends. If confidence is restored, my Lords, industry will respond more briskly to the lavish injections of fictitious wealth into the economy. A massive increase in real wealth will soon follow and unemployment will be further reduced. I hope that noble Lords will bear with me if my closing words are a brief quotation from my father's speech when he moved an humble Address in this House in 1933:
"Advance in business trade and industry depends very largely on the feelings of confidence and security which are indeterminate qualities and cannot be gained by weakness or coercion."
I commend to my noble friends those words of nearly 40 years ago. My Lords, I beg to second my noble friend's Motion for an humble Address.
4.27 p.m.
LORD SHACKLETON: My Lords, a new hazard in your Lordships' House is not only the silent clocks but the noise of claps. I am wondering whether there is some impression that we are a Conservative Party Conference. However, it is with very real enthusiasm and sincerity that I congratulate Captain Lord Blake, late of the Royal Engineers; I should have remembered the motto, which is a familiar one:—I am sorry; I mean late of the Royal Artillery. I think I had better move on. It is a particular satisfaction to me that he should have moved the humble Address. The great majority of noble Lords, and I as much as any, have profited from the noble Lord's historical work, in particular that classic work on Disraeli. Many years ago somebody stole my Monypenny and Buckle,
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but not, I am happy to say, my Robert Blake.
It is worth reminding noble Lords that the noble Lord, Lord Blake, is better known to the world as Robert Blake. It is a satisfaction that historians should participate in history in the way that he has done to-day. It is not that he has not participated in our history in the past. Certainly in his war record, as someone who escaped from an Italian prisoner-of-war camp, he has not spent all his life within the cloistered halls of the House or Magdalen, where he came from, I am glad to say. He has to-day given us a most fascinating survey. It is a fact that the noble Earl, Lord Jellicoe, and the Government, looking for a suitable person to move the humble Address, scan the Benches for different qualities. They said, "Perhaps this year we might even have somebody who claims to be an intellectual. We may be a little thin here. "The noble Earl, Lord Gowrie, is no longer eligible. Certainly the noble Lord, Lord Blake, has done us proud to-day, and has added his own bit of history to the history of this (if I may say this in the presence of Blake) "green and pleasant land".
To the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, let me say first of all that those of us who are not hereditary Peers have always recognised that there are some jolly good hereditary Peers—my noble friend Lord Shepherd, for one. I am very interested to see the metamorphosis of that lively character, Billie Ednam, into the statesmanlike Earl of Dudley, a man who I know takes his duties in industry very seriously: he has a family of six children to look after, so he has to, anyway. But he has time to come here and normally in an attractive, if somewhat abrasive, way advise us on how the country ought to be run. To-day he was rather more moderate in his approach. None the less, although there was much that was debatable in his speech—indeed, there was some that was debatable in the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Blake, about U-turns by the Prime Minister; and we shall certainly have to deal with those later in the debate—between them they covered very much of the subject matter which is before this country and before Parliament and on which we shall have to face very difficult issues. It has therefore been a very satisfactory occasion,

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and I should like to congratulate both noble Lords, and I am sure the whole House is with me.
I was interested that the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, was not, I think, totally optimistic about the success of the Government in regard to a better planning of their legislation. Before we rose last week we had a good-tempered and frank debate in which the noble Earl, Lord Jellicoe, frankly admitted the shortcomings of the Government in the last Session; and we agree that they could not hope to emulate their misachievements. Now I look at the Queen's Speech (there is nothing offensive when I say that no Queen's Speech is ever particularly interesting, because of the way in which these Speeches are normally drafted) and it does not seem there is a great deal of legislation to come before us. I am bound to say that some of the expressions in the Queen's Speech are more obscure than is usual. It may help us a little if I ask the noble Earl one or two questions both about the gracious Speech and about the future programme.
First of all, what "goodies" has he ready to offer your Lordships with regard to legislation? If the Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms is giving to the noble Earl the Leader of the House a list of Bills that will be coming to us, that is fine. If he will tell us what legislation is coming here, this will be helpful. Then, I wonder whether he could explain what in fact is intended, for instance, by the reference to a Bill
"to reform the finances of the national insurance scheme".
This is not a very exciting way of describing the Government White Paper in this matter. Can the noble Earl tell us about this?
There are references in the gracious Speech to Northern Ireland. And here I would echo what the noble Lord, Lord Blake, has said, and what we have all said many times in this House, with regard to the support we give to Ministers, particularly to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, and in regard to our admiration for the troops. Am I to understand that we shall have an opportunity to debate the Green Paper? Suitably, because I suppose it is published in Northern Ireland, the Paper had to be White. I do not know whether this was
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deliberate or whether the Green was required elsewhere. But when shall we have an opportunity to debate this Paper? As I understand it, the Government have a view that we might do so this month, possibly linked to some Bill connected with Northern Trek ltd. We shall be grateful for any information we can be given on this.
I should like to say just something about the rest of the debate on the Queen's Speech. Today is not the day to discuss at any great length thy; gaps or the particular proposals, or indeed to cross-examine the Government over their record. But it is noteworthy that both the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, and the noble Lord, Lord Blake, referred to our entry into Europe. I am not going to say anything on this beyond one point: that if any noble Lord thinks that our entry into Europe is going to solve cur problems of inflation in the short run, and out economic problems, then he will be very misguided. I am sure that neither of the noble Lords who moved and seconded the Address considered this. But this is the central nature of our problem of the economic situation, and it is likely that next week we shall have something to say to the Government on this matter. certainly intend to make no comment to-day on the Downing Street talks, because they are so crucial; but it is very likely that we shall have some hard things to say to the Government when we come to debate economic affairs, which I understand will be done next Tuesday.
My Lords, the record of the Government is so startling—and has involved not merely one but several U-turns—that we are bound to move an Amendment, which I think will be fairly condemnatory of the Government's record. But we all hope that something may yet come from the Downing Street talks. There is no doubt about the seriousness of the situation that confronts this country at the moment. The noble Lord, Lord Blake, referred to the history of success in this country—at least, I this k it was the noble Lord, Lord Blake, but it may have been the noble Earl. Lord Dudley, because I would have taken issue even with an historian on the type of success that the record of this country has represented over the last hundred)ears. It has not always been an unmixed success. However, there is little doubt that we

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shall in the coming Session need to focus a great deal on industrial and economic affairs, and we shall take the full opportunity to do so in the course of the debate on the Queen's Speech. Both the noble Lord, Lord Blake, and the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, can be thankful that their duty is done, and that they have done it with such grace and distinction. My Lords, I beg to move that this debate be adjourned till to-morrow.
Moved, That the debate be adjourned until to-morrow.—(Lord Shackleton.)
4.37 p.m.
LORD BYERS: My Lords, I rise to support the Motion that has been put to the House by the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, and to add my congratulations to the mover and seconder of the humble Address on the manner in which they have discharged their traditional but very difficult task. I think we can say that they trod the non-controversial tightrope with skill and only an occasional lurch to the Right or Left—one or two of them rather hefty. I thought that the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, very nearly fell off that tightrope at the end of his speech. But I am sure the House will forgive him for doing so because we enjoyed both the speeches very much indeed.
I always find it a great pleasure to discover common ground with other Members of your Lordships' House. To-day I salute the noble Lord, Lord Blake, as a fellow gunner—I should like to emphasise "gunner", not "engineer"—and discover that the three of us have common ground in Christ Church—"the other House".
NOBLE LORDS: Hear, hear!
LORD BYERS: It does not sound as though we are alone in this matter, my Lords. The noble Lord, Lord Blake, is a well-known student of Conservative Prime Ministers and politics. I believe that one of his books is titled, The Unknown Prime Minister. I think the whole House would like to know in due course what is going to be the title for the present period when the noble Lord comes to write it up.
I was particularly interested in the references which both noble Lords made to our joining the E.E.C., and particularly
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Lord Blake's analysis of this having to be looked at against the background of very major changes in world political power. I am sure that this is a philosophy which will come to be accepted by many people who at the present time are not totally wedded to the idea of our joining. I very much welcomed the references made by the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, to the part which youth has to play in designing, building up and moulding the institutions and relationships within the new Community.
My Lords, there is no doubt that the Session which opens to-day is going to be a heavy one. It is going to be a heavy one not because of the legislative measures which are foreshadowed in the Gracious Speech—in fact I welcome the fact that the gracious Speech does not contain too many legislative measures—but by reason of the work involved in such things as the first year of our membership of the E.E.C.; because of the debates we shall need to have on the way we are to participate in the institutions—the European Parliament, and so on. We have a heavy Session ahead of us because of the domestic economic strains which are facing us; and we have indeed the perpetual and very difficult problem of Northern Ireland. All these are things which require very careful debate not only in this House but also in another place. That is why I add my plea to that of the noble Earl, Lord Dudley, that the Government will recognise that this House, if given the opportunity, could probably save a good deal of the legislative time of another place by knocking into better shape several of the major Bills before they go to the Commons. I am quite sure that that would provide the Commons with more Parliamentary time in which they could debate, as objectively as the Commons can, some of the very big issues which are facing us in the coming months. I think particularly of the legislation on health and social services and on water resources. These are measures with which your Lordships' House is fully qualified to deal and to obtain the clarification which we need in order to save time in another place.
My Lords, I would conclude by saying that as we open this new Session I feel I must issue a warning to the Front Bench opposite, that as a result of last week's by-election in Rochdale there has

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been a significant shift of political power in this country. The Government and the Labour Party must attune themselves now to the prospect of the alternative Government being found on these Benches. If that is not immediately apparent we can at least claim to have made a start in the right direction. My Lords, no other Party, even with the aid of proportional representation, could have got the equivalent of two Members in the House for the price of one.
4.43 p.m.
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL JELLICOE): My Lords, I recall that when the loyal Address was moved two years ago by my noble friend Lord O'Neill of the Maine, I hazarded the guess that that was the first time the Address had been moved not only by a former Chancellor of the Exchequer but also by a former Prime Minister. To-day, my Lords, I shall venture a further guess. This afternoon my guess is that this is the first time that the loyal Address has been moved in your Lordships' House by a real live Master of an Oxford College. It may be that unless I can tempt the noble Lord, Lord Redcliffe-Maud, off his lofty perch on the Cross-Benches opposite, or perhaps magnetise that maestro of the art of the possible, Lord Butler, away from his palace at Trinity College, it will be many decades before the Master of an Oxford, or indeed even of a Cambridge, college moves a loyal Address again. Be that as it may, so inexhaustible are the reserves of talent behind me that I am confident that, through the many years stretching ahead when movers and seconders of the Loyal Address will necessarily be sought from members of my Party, and despite the warning which has just been issued by the noble Lord, Lord Byers, the very high standard set by my noble friend Lord Blake will be maintained, although it is going to be difficult to maintain the standard of his speech. As the two noble Lords who preceded me have said, he has placed your Lordships greatly in his debt.
I am in his debt in more ways than one. Through his books he has given me, as he has given many of your Lordships, many hours of delight, perhaps most of all in his Moneypenny and Buckle. He has placed me greatly in his debt as an historian, indeed as the
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historian of the modern Conservative Party. I am in his debt for the speeches which he has already, in a short space of time, contributed from these Benches, and I am not least in his debt for his acceptance of my invitation to move the loyal Address to-day and for the way in which he has so pithily, wittily and elegantly discharged so singularly difficult a task.
As for my noble friend Lord. Dudley, many of your Lordships know of the wide range of interests of my noble friend. We know of his deep personal and professional knowledge of industry in many of its aspects. We know of his personal and public commitment to the cause of British membership of the European Communities. He has made those interests, and others, already clear to your Lordships in a number of forthright speeches in this House. But I believe I can claim that in his notably forthright speech this afternoon he has shown himself not only as we know him to be, an expert in his own subjects, but also the possessor of a wide-ranging view over our industrial and economic affairs as a whole. And then there are of curse my noble friend's links with Oxford and with his noble predecessor Lord Blake. He was at Christ Church, as we know, when Lord Blake was a tutor there, and together my two noble friends represent in a very personalised and striking form an interesting phenomenon of what some noble Lords—although not, of course, the noble Lord, Lord Balogh (I do not see him here but I do not think the noble Lord, Lord Balogh would feel this)—would hold to be a reactionary manifestation, the continuing predom nance of "Oxbridge", or at least Oxford, in our public life.
Looking around your Lordships' House, I, a mere Cantab., am only too well aware especially after the last four speakers, that I am surrounded by a veritable horde of Oxonians. There is the noble Lord, Lord Byers; there is the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton; there is his predecessor (not present), the noble Earl, Lord Longford; and there is his old sparring partner, my noble and learned friend on the Woolsack. The only consolation which I can take from this quasi-monopoly which Oxford seems to exercise in your Lordships' House is the fact

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that the reference books tell us that my noble friend Lord Carrington received some sort of further education at an academy called Sandhurst. Nevertheless, this is an awesome thought and one on which I invite your Lordships to ponder in the silent reaches of the night: that our last five Prime Ministers have all received their further education at Oxford. I can only assume that the alchemy of Oxford manages to fuse in an unusual degree both intellectual content and ease of manner, the two qualities which were both so evident in the two speeches to which we have just listened.
LORD SHACKLETON: My Lords, may I interrupt the noble Earl, who I feel may be suffering an acute inferiority complex, to remind him that most of the Government of Singapore come from Cambridge?
EARL JELLICOE: I am grateful to the noble Lord for that reminder. That is doubtless why they are doing so well.
My Lords, the Session which has just ended has been I think, by common consent, one of the most gruelling to which your Lordships' House in its long history has been subjected, and if I may—and I hope noble Lords opposite will forgive me—I should like to take this opportunity of thanking my noble friends on the Front Bench for all their help. I think I can claim without fear of contradiction that they are a pretty good team by any standards, and we have had good teams on the other side from time to time. When I was sitting, or rather reclining, on the Opposition Front Bench and looking at the Government Front Bench armed cap-àpie with Ministerial briefs and statistics and those little illegible missives which come from the Box at one minute past twelve o'clock, they always struck me, that Front Bench of the day, as formidable, fearsome and eight feet tall. By that standard I would claim that our Front Bench is nine feet tall, with the exception of my noble friend Lord Ferrers, who we know is ten feet tall.
I am particularly grateful to those of my noble friends who have in this last Session borne so much of the heat and burden of the legislative programme: my noble and indefatigable friend Lord Drumalbyn, the Hercules of the Housing
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Finance Bill; my noble friend Lord Aberdare, the Titan of the Local Government Bill, and my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor, who has upheld, like Atlas, innumerable Bills during the Session, and whose endless peregrinations to and from the Woolsack, from the Woolsack to the Front Bench, with an occasional pause for rest and respite on the Earls' Bench, has given us at least a clue to the secret of perpetual motion. In scratching my noble friends on the back, I should like particularly to congratulate my noble friend the Chief Whip. The whole House welcomes his return to full Parliamentary activity. I know that noble Lords opposite have particularly welcomed his return as the predictable herald of Government defeats, but I wish rather to congratulate my noble friend on one of his special masterpieces, his Blenheim. I know that he has devoted much of his enforced leisure this summer to thinking of ways in which to bring back some good order and military discipline into your Lordships' House. I know that he felt that there was no better way of securing this than to ensure that both the Mover and Seconder of the Loyal Address be prevailed upon, as in the past, to don full military plumage for this occasion, and I must congratulate my noble friend on at least partial success.
My Lords, this is not the occasion for long speeches, nor is it the occasion for Front Bench speeches too full of political pith and content. That being so, I should like in my concluding words to touch on one or two matters relating to our cuisine interieure.In moving his Motion last week my noble friend Lord Alport made clear his feeling that in the last Session or two your Lordships have been hardly done by, and it was clear from the reception of his Motion in your Lordships' House that his feeling is fairly widely shared; indeed, I hope I made it clear that I share it myself. Our last two Sessions have indeed been hard ones, and I think it is the common desire of all of us—indeed, the determination of all of us—that by one means or another we somehow contrive to organise our affairs rather better.
In any event, it would be less than generous of me if I did not again take the opportunity of thanking your Lordships, in all quarters of the House, for the

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good temper, tolerance and forbearance which, by and large, noble Lords have shown in our long and wearisome discussions these last two and a half years. If, as a House, we have gone through a pretty gruelling period without too much scar tissue showing, I think it is in large part due to those qualities. I should also he less than generous if I were not to thank noble Lords on both Front Benches opposite for what they have contributed, through usual or unusual channels, as the case may be, towards making the ordering of our business as reasonable as possible in sometimes difficult circumstances. I would particularly like to acknowledge the part played by the noble Lord, the Opposition Chief Whip, and in so doing may I say that I hope we shall very soon see him restored to his usual robust combative good health.
That said, apart from what the Government may or may not be able to contribute towards the better ordering of our business, there are things which I believe we can do to help ourselves. In the first place, we might apply some self-denying ordinances. We can, of course, try our hand at brevity. I see that Black Rod's marvellous new timepieces are working for the first time to-day. I note that they have room for only two figures, and I would merely express the hope that this does not mean that all noble Lords will feel that all their speeches must necessarily last for 99 minutes.
There is one suggestion which, very deferentially, I would make to noble Lords opposite. It is my expectation, my hope, that we shall in the course of this Session get a reasonable percentage of main-line Bills started in your Lordships' House. In this connection the Leader of the Opposition has asked me about the Bills to be introduced in this House in the forthcoming Session. I can only say that I stand by what I said in reply to my noble friend's Motion last week. We shall be naturally getting early a number of small but significant Bills. In addition, I am confident that at least one major Bill will be introduced in this House before Christmas. At this stage I would suggest to the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, who knows as well as any of us, the processes, the often mysterious processes, by which these decisions are arrived at, that he should wait and see,
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like the Leader of your Lordships' House, in confident but alert expectation.
I should like to remind your Lordships that the legislative pyramid does not consist only of monolithic major Bills; as all Government and Opposition business managers know, there are, quite apart from the major monoliths, many useful little infillings, useful little Bills which can be wedged in and come wry helpfully to hand at certain moments in our programme. I would express the hope that noble Lords opposite will convey to their friends in another place the view that Parliament will be able to conduct its affairs better, and this House able to contribute more to the better balance of the Parliamentary programme, if they for their part could agree, albeit within reasonable limits, that some small Bills which might otherwise not start in your Lordships' House, but which could then start in this House, should be referred to a Second Reading Committee.
My Lords, may I, in conclusion, say just a word or two about the proposed order of our business during the debate on the Address? It is proposed to devote tomorrow, Wednesday, to debating defence and foreign affairs. My noble friend Lord Carrington will be opening the debate, and my noble friend Lady Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie will be, winding it up. On the second day, Thursday, it is suggested that we should deal with home and social affairs, and my noble friend Lord Colville of Culross will be opening for the Government, and Lord Aberdare will be winding up. Finally, the last day on the Address, next Tuesday, will be devoted to economic and industrial affairs. My noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor and I will be speaking for the Government in that debate.
There is one thing that I was more or less invited to say by the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton. As to the proposed arrangements for Wednesday and Thursday, I naturally gave a lot of thought to the possibility that some Members of your Lordships' House might with to discuss during the debate on the Address the situation in Northern Ireland, on which my noble friend Lord Blake to-day has spoken with such penetration and with a real historical perspective. I am myself quite sure that it is right that we should turn our attention in the near future to the grave problems which beset

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us in Northern Ireland, but it is my feeling—and I understand that this feeling is shared on the Front Benches opposite—that there will be opportunities in the near future for us to debate Northern Ireland and the Government's Consultative Document separately before Christmas. I think we all know that there will be opportunities, and I can give an undertaking that certainly if this is the common desire, it will be met through the usual channels. I think this would be a tidier and better arrangement than to attempt to debate this complex, teasing and desperately difficult issue in the context of the debate on the Address.
That said, my Lords, I should like very sincerely to thank both the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition, and the noble Lord, Lord Byers, for what they have said about the speeches by my two noble friends, and to add my own congratulations to those which they have already proffered.
On Question, Motion agreed to, and debate adjourned accordingly until to-morrow.

CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES
EARL JELLICOE: My Lords, I beg to move that the Earl of Listowel be appointed to take the Chair in all Committees for this Session.
Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to, nemine contradicente.
Stoppages in the Streets—Order to prevent, renewed.
Appeal Committees—Appointed.
Appellate Committees—Appointed.

ROLL OF THE LORDS
Prepared by the Clerk of the Parliaments: Ordered to lie on the Table, and to be printed.
House adjourned at one minute past five o'clock.