Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: The hon. Member for Ince (Mr. T. Brown) is a greatly respected Member of this House. I would join with him at once in agreeing that, whatever the complexion of the Government of the day, it is our duty as back benchers to be extremely jealous of private Members' time. A back benchers' trade union on that matter would be a very useful organisation, whatever the complexion of the Government and...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: We were confronted, the hon. Member will agree, with an external enemy who had to be confronted, and we wanted to give all the time possible for the prosecution of the war to the Ministers concerned in that very vital matter rather than take up their time with private Members' business. It is true that there was a fight, but it was something of a sham fight. We went through the motions; we...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: That is true, but since this Motion was put down I have had time to look at the Division lists, and I have looked in vain for the name of the hon. Member for lnce or of any of his hon. Friends, so eloquent and persuasive were the speeches of the then Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Lewisham, South. There were some mild fulminations. The right...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: However, the hon. Member for Leek seems to be showing a lack of confidence in the forthcoming appeal to the country. If this Bill has the support of his hon. and right hon. Friends on the benches opposite, and of some of my hon. Friends over here, has he no confidence either in the result of the General Election or in any Government which may be formed from amongst his own right hon. Friends?...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: I agree, and far too important to be rushed through between now and dissolution. It ought to have the most meticulous examination in Committee. It is capable of improvement, and ought to be examined in Committee. The hon. Gentleman takes the view that if he does not get the Bill by 6th May he will not get it at all. I wonder why.
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: Has he no confidence in the result in the Leek division, no confidence in the result of the General Election as a whole?
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: That was a very lengthy interruption. I was merely suggesting that if the hon. Gentleman had any faith in his chickens being hatched—
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: —he need not worry, and we can leave it to the small farmer, who is embarrassed by the holding up of a Bill dealing with non-industrial workers—
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: —;and the prospect, to which we shall look forward, of watching a juggernaut rolling out of a Committee room upstairs. I hope I shall be there to see that. If the hon. Gentleman has any faith in the chances of his party and its support for his Bill, he need not worry too much about the fate which has overtaken it. There is another Bill dealing with transport, and I think that the hon....
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: The fact is that I have not yet sufficiently convalesced from my Socialist wounds.
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: We have been reminded more than once since the Minister moved the Second Reading of the Bill that the Measure had a rough passage in another place. There is an idea that Tory Bills never get knocked about in their Lordships' House. However that may be, this Bill has emerged in a considerably emasculated condition. It may be that the usual channels there lack the authority which they carry...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: But the hon. Member will also know—we are not without a certain experience in this field—that the motoring organisations themselves designate garages. One can see their signs outside the buildings which they have recommended. I see no reason why it should be impossible for the Government to designate garages possessing these qualifications. The R.A.C. and the A.A. already designate...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: If that argument were extended sufficiently, no National Health doctors would be able to practise. It has been argued against that Clause that whatever the method of the check-up—and it is obvious that there will be differences of opinion in Committee about this—the vehicle itself may be tested on 1st January and the brakes may not be efficient by 10th January. The same is true, of...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: No doubt in some cases the reason is valid, but I repeat that my impression, gained over many years, is that there is an undue tendency to leniency in dealing with these cases. As my hon. Friend knows, there is in the Act a loophole for qualifying circumstances. He knows that. When he interrupted me, I was about to make the point that there are people who say, "Why do you not put them all...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: I think that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House gave unanswerable reasons why this Amendment cannot be accepted. But I wish to be perfectly frank with the House, and to say that I remain unhappy about the situation which has developed. Like my noble Friend the Member for Dorset, South (Viscount Hinchingbrooke), I shall be acquitted of any sympathy for the political views of hon....
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: Could my hon. Friend indicate when it is expected that we shall reach the plateau of road expenditure?
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: I think it will be agreed on both sides of the House that on these occasions, when we spend a day debating the economic situation, we can properly spare a few minutes for consideration of the problem of communications. I notice in the Gracious Speech a paragraph, which I greatly welcome, dealing with road construction, and I rise briefly to interrogate the Government and invite them to...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: Certainly I do; but, like all humans and all Governments, he is mortal—like the hon. Member for Tradeston (Mr. Rankin), and like myself. We are all born to die; so are Chancellors of the Exchequer, and so are Governments. Some successor to the present Chancellor might arrive on the scene and turn off the tap, as did Sir Stafford Cripps in 1947.
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: I will not say what type of Chancellor would be likely to do it. I am anxious to keep this topic out of party controversy. It was the Socialist Government which wrecked the Barnes 10-year plan; that is a matter of history and not a matter of controversy. In 1947 the whole programme came to a standstill, and it has not been restarted. If the hon. Member for Tradeston will give me his...
Lieut-Commander Joseph Braithwaite: At the time one launches the loan one launches it in accordance with the market terms. What I suggested last February—and I do not think circumstances have altered very much since—was a 30-year loan of £500 million at 3½ per cent., which would have been financed quite comfortably out of 3½d. a gallon of the Petrol Duty. That suggestion was rejected. If the hon. Member asks me the...
