§ 2.39 p.m.
§ Baroness EMMET of AMBERLEYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they recognise the right of a trade union to sabotage a policy which was made clear at the recent general election and widely supported by the country.
The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EMPLOYMENT (The Earl of Gowrie)No, my Lords. Decisions on policies of this kind are clearly a matter for Parliament. I believe that the great majority of trade unionists in this country share this view and have no desire to undermine our democracy.
§ Baroness EMMET of AMBERLEYMy Lords, in thanking the Minister for that reply, may I ask him this question: does it not amount almost to a question of treason and, in a case of immobilising a hospital, a conspiracy practically to murder?
The Earl of GOWRIEMy Lords, I think everyone would be sympathetic with the degree of antipathy which threats involving the Health Service arouse in the general public. I am not sure whether I would go quite so far as the noble Baroness in using the word "treason".
§ Lord HATCH of LUSBYMy Lords, is the noble Earl aware that, so long as his Government continue with their two-nation policy based on the confessed principle of inequality, it makes it so much more difficult for responsible trade union and labour leaders to restrain those who would take industrial action to defend their standard of living?
The Earl of GOWRIEMy Lords, the noble Lord's assumptions are too wide of the mark to be worth replying to.