Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 18 Rhagfyr 1973.
I shall not attempt to give the reason for a particular regulation at this time of night, but I take the point that it is right that these regulations should be looked at critically.
This brings me to the last point, and it was also the first point, since it was raised by the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Booth), as well as by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Waddington) and the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh, Leith (Mr. Ronald King Murray). Here we see Parliament doing its job. These regulations are now being looked at in detail—in a way in which, perhaps, they were not before—by our Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. This shows the value of Parliament's having Committees of this kind.
I must make it clear that the wording which is challenged, in Regulation 32 particularly, is not peculiar to this set of regulations. I am advised that exactly the same words have been used in every set of regulations since 1949, introduced by successive Governments, and they have never before been queried. I am not complaining about that. It is right that they should now be queried, and the Joint Committee is serving Parliament by querying them.
Hon. Members have raised a difficult and complex legal point. I do not think that I can undertake a review of the regulations in this four-week period, but I shall consult seriously with the Law Officers and bear this point in mind should we, unfortunately, ever have need for the regulations again. Meanwhile, I can assure the House that it is not the Government's intention to use these regulations to outlaw or to prevent anything that has traditionally been regarded as a legitimate trade union activity. I hope that the House will take that assurance from me, accept that it is a complicated legal point, leave me to consult the Law Officers and take the outcome of those consultations into account if, unfortunately, we ever have to have further regulations in future.