Hon. Anthony Berry: asked the Minister of Transport when he expects the middle section of the M4 to be completed.
Hon. Anthony Berry: Is my hon. Friend aware that that will be very good news for many people, particularly those travelling to South Wales? Is he further aware that I have asked this question many times over the last three years but that now that I am in his capable hands I have no need to ask it again because the date will be kept?
Hon. Anthony Berry: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. According to the Order Paper, at this point I should be called to ask leave to bring in a Bill. Can you tell me why I have not been called?
Hon. Anthony Berry: Mr. Berry rose—
Hon. Anthony Berry: I am grateful for your explanation, Sir, which naturally I accept. However, it is ironical that an attempt to change the 1968 Act, which was itself heavily guillotined, should now be barred in 1970 by a guillotine Motion on another piece of legislation affecting transport. For the future, might it not be possible to alter the rules so that, when this happens, an extra 10 or 15 minutes is...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I am not entirely happy about the Amendments. We had a most important and helpful debate in Committee on these points, but I am still wondering whether the Minister has reworded the subsection in the right way. The Amendments which I moved in Committee were not quite acceptable to the Minister. However, there is an important point here which came out as the debate proceeded. The Minister...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I beg to move Amendment No. 62, in page 47, line 32, after second ' order ', insert: (provided that such vesting does not give the Authority exclusive rights to provide port services within the specified harbour to the generality of users). I attempted to move this Amendment in Committee. I had made what I thought was a powerful and effective speech in support of it when my hon. Friend the...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I confess that at that moment my friendly feelings towards my hon. Friend the Member for Hallam were rather less than my friendly feelings towards others of my hon. Friends. But there is always a happy end to most things. I should not have had an opportunity of moving the Amendment in the same wording had I not been deselected, or shot down, depending on which side of the House one is...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I beg to move Amendment No. 129, in page 48, line 4, at end insert: (3) The authority may with the consent of the person carrying on a business apply for a vesting order with respect to any business at a harbour before the harbour is placed under the charge of the authority (but not before the establishment of a port board for the harbour), with a view to the order being made on the harbour...
Hon. Anthony Berry: We have no objection to the Amendment. It is one of many Government Amendments put down following suggestions made by the Opposition. I can understand why the piece of paper showing the selection of Amendments was not big enough to take all the Government Amendments. I must point out that the last Amendment which we accepted was an Opposition Amendment.
Hon. Anthony Berry: I beg to move Amendment No. 66, in page 48, line 45, at end insert: (8) Before making an order under subsection (1) above, the Minister shall arrange for public enquiries to be held in areas where substantial representations are made by local authorities or organisations representing workers or port users to the effect that the consequences of the transfer of the port businesses concerned to...
Hon. Anthony Berry: The Joint Parliamentary Secretary got into a little trouble last night with that word and I had not intended to mention it out of the kindness of my heart. As attention has been drawn to it, I would point out that the same question was put to my hon. Friend the Member for Tavistock (Mr. Michael Heseltine). He reminded the House—
Hon. Anthony Berry: The hon. Member for Bristol, North-West (Mr. Ellis) is in a state of completely unwarranted euphoria. I cannot understand why. I am sorry that he will not be with us in the next Parliament—he nearly lost his deposit at one point in Committee. I do not blame him for doing what he can in his last few speeches here. The Minister has already shown that he is making exceptions of certain types...
Hon. Anthony Berry: My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Edward M. Taylor) is right. The fact that the Government refused to accept Amendment No. 6 is an even stronger case for asking them to accept this one. Yesterday, the House unfortunately accepted that the National Ports Authority should take over the harbours.
Hon. Anthony Berry: I am obliged to the hon. Member for Oldham, East (Mr. Mapp). It is a new experience to have Erskine May quoted at me and I enjoyed it. I am indebted to him for his close interest in my speech. The fact that Amendment No. 6 was not accepted yesterday—to my regret—emphasises the importance of No. 66. The Authority will have the responsible task of dealing with our harbours and ports...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I am surprised that the right hon. Gentleman should consider organisations representing the workers in this industry to be classified as vague. The noises from the benches opposite have not given us that impression these last two days. I accept what the right hon. Gentleman says about the procedures already in the Bill but there is no way for organisations representing workers or port users...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I beg to move Amendment No. 67, in page 49, line 10, leave out from ' thereto ' to end of line 17 and insert: 'with the exceptions of— (i) the loading or unloading of cargo which is carried out by the owners of the trading vessels or their subsidiaries;(ii) the loading or unloading of cargo which consists of one commodity and the process of unloading which is a specialised or unusual...
Hon. Anthony Berry: I am grateful to the Minister. I appreciate that, faced with the remarkable alliance which sprang up between both sides of the Committee—I do not know whether its members formed a group or an organisation, or whether they were still individuals—he had no alternative but to give in. This is an important step forward. We welcome it as a major concession which we played a major part in...
Hon. Anthony Berry: Compliments are flying across the Chamber. I agreatly appreciate what the hon. Member for Poplar (Mr. Mikardo) said about me. If I were to put on my election address what he said, I might have to pay £150 as well. It might not be understood, but I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I thank the Minister for his kind remarks about me, and for the courtesy which he and the Parliamentary...
Hon. Anthony Berry: asked the Minister of Transport what plans he now has for the winding up of the Transport Holding Company; and if he will make a statement.
