Mr Arthur Tiley: It is a real pleasure for me to follow the hon. Member for Consett (Mr. Stones) and to say that I agree with him completely when he says that the problem is to deal with the people who are retired and old now. I assure him that we accept the challenge in this country of doing just that. It is a responsibility that we all share. I hope to show in my speech how we share it. First, I should...
Mr Arthur Tiley: I accept that. The hon. Member is really adding weight to my argument. In any Christian community, as a personal responsibility, we accept it, but in the wider sphere of world competition for markets it is not ourselves personally as Christians or even as exporters who decide. The prices of our goods depend on the Government's extension of our welfare services and all the other things which...
Mr Arthur Tiley: The hon. Member is singing the wrong tune, and for someone with his name that is very bad form. There was a poor response to that incitement to the old people to attack me. I had about forty letters from the country as a whole—not a sackful. Some of them were very rude. One began, "You lousy b. . …", a word of six letters, not four; perhaps it is cultured to use it now. At least, it is...
Mr Arthur Tiley: I am quite happy to respond to that point. I said before last year's Budget that I would not find it possible to support the Government if they reduced taxation and gave all these things which were pressed for from these benches if they were given before the pensioners were dealt with. I was very glad that Viscount Amory, in introducing his Budget, set as the first thing to be accomplished...
Mr Arthur Tiley: This is a very good point, but there is an adequate answer. At the same time that the hon. Gentleman is putting forward this view, will he also give the House the unemployment figures in those countries? They are 7, 8, 9 and 10 per cent. Ours have never exceeded 3 per cent.
Mr Arthur Tiley: I should like to develop it.
Mr Arthur Tiley: Mr. Tiley rose——
Mr Arthur Tiley: Does the hon. Member agree with the slogan that pounds, shillings and pence are meaningless symbols?
Mr Arthur Tiley: The hon. Member could not be more wrong.
Mr Arthur Tiley: The reason why it is not considered to be a swindle is that people read National Superannuation, the scheme of the Socialist Party, which they considered to be the biggest swindle ever put on paper.
Mr Arthur Tiley: asked the Minister of Transport when work will start on the Bradford Corporation's scheme for a central ring road in Bradford.
Mr Arthur Tiley: I thank my right hon. Friend for his help with this project which is so essential to Bradford's future development and transport problems.
Mr Arthur Tiley: Would not the hon. Gentleman admit that it has been put fairly from both sides of the House that almost every Regulation is not for the protection of this or any other Government but for the protection of the employee?
Mr Arthur Tiley: Then will the hon. Gentleman withdraw what he said in the earlier part of his speech when he said that this is to protect the Government? He has now admitted that it is not.
Mr Arthur Tiley: The hon. Gentleman has raised a very important point. Will he look at it in this way? In the light of his last few sentences, would it not be better for the House to send a message from this debate that we should pay our priests, our vicars, our curates, whoever they may be, properly? That is not a matter for us as politicians, or for my right hon. Friend. The message should be that...
Mr Arthur Tiley: asked the Minister of Transport if, in the interest of road safety, he will make arrangements to introduce a safer, smaller and cheaper type of road bollard instead of the present ones, which are a danger to motorists and pedestrians alike owing to their size, shape and construction.
Mr Arthur Tiley: I can send my hon. Friend evidence which shows that the obstructions now being placed in the road in many thousands of places are extra hazards. Is my hon. Friend aware that these massive constructions are each 4 feet in height and 1 foot 4 inches at their widest part, and that if six of them are placed round a traffic island they block the vision for nearly three yards, and must of necessity...
Mr Arthur Tiley: Mr. Arthur Tiley (Bradford, West) rose—
Mr Arthur Tiley: I want to be helpful.
Mr Arthur Tiley: I have been listening most intently to the speech of the hon. Member, because it has been packed with very interesting information, but it is not fair to assume that we are here to obey the Whip. Many of us on these benches are here because of our great interest in this subject. I think the hon. Gentleman should withdraw the nasty allegation he has made.
