Mr John Hay: I am very tempted to follow the hon. Member for Putney (Mr. Hugh Jenkins) in what I thought at once stage would be a far-reaching discussion of the woes of the British film industry. I will, however, simply say that I agree with him whole-heartedly that the British industry is not facing a crisis. It is in a difficult situation but it has not reached crisis level yet. Everybody in the...
Mr John Hay: I have pointed out that the Section gives enabling powers. I have said that one would not expect these Regulations to activate those powers. But I am reminding my hon. Friend of these matters and I ask him to consider, if this proposal comes before him and his Department, that it was something not agreed by the industry as a whole, and which the Opposition at that time vigorously fought and...
Mr John Hay: My hon. Friend is turning the argument on its head. The whole point is that if there is a subsidy for film production, it should be for films to be shown in cinemas and not for films to be shown on television. There are perfectly adequate methods whereby films may be made and are made on all kinds of media for television directly, but it is only in respect of the commercial cinema that the...
Mr John Hay: rose—
Mr John Hay: On a point of Order. I beg to move, That the Films Bill, not amended in the Standing Committee, be recommitted to a Standing Committee. I move this Motion under the provisions of Standing Order No. 50 and the combined effect of Standing Order No. 52, which enables the mover briefly to explain why the Bill should be recommitted. I do this because of the very short amount of time that we have...
Mr John Hay: The House is now witnessing the same sort of performance from the hon. Lady that those of us who were in the Standing Committee became very familiar with, namely, to rattle at high speed through her brief, to give no answers whatever to the questions that have been put and, in effect, to treat the Opposition as some kind of impediment to the exercise of her power. She has completely failed to...
Mr John Hay: I shall not withdraw, because I have said nothing that needs withdrawing. One of the most extraordinary arguments that I have heard the hon. Lady use in dealing with new Clause 1 was that it appeared to have been put down in panic. When Mr. Speaker was in the Chair, Mr. Deputy Speaker, a few moments ago, I drew attention, by means of a procedural Motion, to the fact that we had only two...
Mr John Hay: I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
Mr John Hay: If and when I get a hearing—
Mr John Hay: —I will concentrate my remarks on new Clause 7, because this is the most comprehensive of the three which are intended to deal with the point which was discussed at some length in Standing Committee, although with a somewhat inconclusive result. New Clause 7 is in exactly the same form as that which was debated in Committee.
Mr John Hay: I was about to explain for the benefit of the hon. Members below the Bar, that the equivalent of new Clause 7 was debated at some length in Standing Committee and that the Committee was evenly divided. In that Committee there were nine Government supporters and six members of the Opposition. Our arguments so moved the Committee that on this issue the Committee divided six to six and the...
Mr John Hay: I can, and will, quote it: j'y suis, j'y reste. Despite the puzzlement on the benches behind the hon. Lady, it was clear that she was balancing on the point of a pin, a somewhat uncomfortable position in which to be, because she was being pressed from our side of the Committee to make these changes and she was being pressed by, I think, her hon. Friends the Members for Putney (Mr. Hugh...
Mr John Hay: That, of course, is an assumption. Paragraph (e) of the new Clause deals with precisely that situation: It says: two shall be appointed as representatives of persons who are both makers and exhibitors of British films;
Mr John Hay: As my hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley) has just said, the hon. Lady addressed the House on these new Clauses in a more reasonable spirit than she has shown on almost anything else. If she would do this regularly, I think that we would get on more quickly. I do not want to press the point any further. It has had a good airing. All I will say, before asking...
Mr John Hay: The hon. Lady has lapsed back into the form she was in about an hour ago before the light of sweet reason dawned on her and she realised that she might make better progress with the Bill by accepting that we were trying to put forward reasonable arguments. I do not think that she has answered the point here. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley) said, the...
Mr John Hay: I beg to move Amendment No. 5, in page 3, line 40, after '(c)', insert: 'after consulting with the Cinematograph Films Council and'.
Mr John Hay: Clause 6 proved in the event to be the most controversial. It was most completely vilified by people outside the House because the whole of the industry condemned the idea of robbing the Eady money, which it regards as industry money, to provide payments towards the British Film Institute for making films and for enabling film schools to be financed. I am concerned with a situation which...
Mr John Hay: I am almost dumbfounded. I can hardly believe that we have actually squeezed an acceptance on one point from the hon. Lady. However, it is a poor heart that never rejoices, so Thank you for this very small gesture. My astonishment is probably equalled by that of the hon. Member for Putney (Mr. Hugh Jenkins), who was really thrown back on his heels. He has been following the Minister...
Mr John Hay: The hon. Member for Putney followed the hon. Lady. He jumped to his feet in indignation before I was able to rise.
Mr John Hay: The Bill says "any" school.