Sir Harmar Nicholls: On the question of equal rights, will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that after the election the men and women of Peterborough confidently expect the Government to play fair by them and give them their proper reward for being good neighbours to London and accepting London's overspill under the new towns procedure?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: What does the right hon. Gentleman mean by a "democratic" service? Does he mean that patients will man the offices and decide policy? It is a silly emotive word to use in this debate. What does the right hon. Gentleman mean by it?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: The hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) will have the sympathy of most people on his last point. I agree that the phrase "balance of probability" is a typical example of a bureaucratic decision. I do not know whether we had the full facts of the case, but certainly in most of what he said the hon. Gentleman has the sympathy of the House. However, having put such an example of what...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: I heard the reference by the right hon. Gentleman to that advertisement. That is what I had in mind when I said that he was seeking to bring in party politics and matters of class bitterness and class distinction. I heard the right hon. Gentleman quote the Financial Times. I know what his intentions were in doing so. He wanted to give the impression that once again the Tories wanted to look...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: My point is that the cuts which we all deplore on hospitals could be considerably less if cuts were made in the other area of the Secretary of State's responsibility, social security payments. If we saved money there, it could be spent in areas like those referred to by the hon. Member for Eccles.
Sir Harmar Nicholls: I am delighted that the hon. Member for Eccles has asked that question. I pass it straight over to my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary. That is precisely what I want to know. How many people are doing it? If we find that a sufficient number are doing it to enable us to save money by stopping it, we can spend more on hospitals and on the home help service. I hope that my hon. Friend will be...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: That is a twisted interpretation of my speech.
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I think that my right hon. Friend's explanation is rather weak. To suggest that someone is removed from the roster because the Member who officially answers Questions is absent is not our usual practice. On many occasions when a Minister is absent, for all sorts of reasons, somebody is deputed to answer for him. I in no way object to the fact that...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is the order for the 16 American reactors out of the 18 being placed because the Americans are the only people who can give delivery or because we are not prepared to put in a bid to make a British contribution on that scale?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is my right hon. Friend aware that while his statement may have made it quite clear that public housing will be relieved from some of the imposts which he has described, it was not clear what would be available for private housing? Private housing must work in partnership with public housing or our housing needs will not be properly met.
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Whether the reaction to the omnibus nature of my right hon. Friend's statement is real or stimulated, ought not the Leader of the House to consider coming to some arrangement by which proper priority can be given to the various subjects that have to be reported upon? I hold views different from those of my right hon. Friend about general policy connected with the Treaty of Rome, but I feel...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: You should be under no illusion, Mr. Speaker, that the submission carries with it the view of the majority of Members of this House, it is clearly simulated. The Lord Chancellor is a Member of Parliament; the Lords is part of Parliament. As a senior Minister, the Lord Chancellor has a duty to warn the nation if he thinks that it should be warned. He has not infringed the rules of either...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is my right hon. Friend satisfied that he is receiving full co-operation from local authorities in restraining their spending during this time of stringency?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Was not the copyright for questioning the mental capacity of their leaders claimed by the Opposition last week, and ought they not to object to others infringing it?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the mood of the nation is in no way reflected by the excited partisan questions which have just been put to him? What the nation recognises is that there is a clear difference of view between the mineworkers and the Government and the NCB. They hope that the door is still left open for sense to prevail by continuing the talks which the Prime Minister had...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Will my right hon. Friend confirm what my right hon. Friend the Minister said to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Mr. Marten) that there are certain questions such as dealings with Rhodesia where they are to act directly or through the United Nations, and as though the Common Market had never existed? Are there matters which may be disregarded and which do not involve the special...
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Before the hon. Gentleman sits down—
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is my right hon. Friend aware that when he announced from the Dispatch Box two weeks ago that price increases under the Labour Government were among the highest we had had, the Opposition immediately excused that by blaming it on the Korean war? Is not this proof that world forces influence prices? Is the refusal of the Opposition to recognise that fact due to their typical political hypocrisy?
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Does my right hon. Friend agree that research will show that, in the first three years when his Government were in power, the Leader of the Opposition made eight or nine ministerial broadcasts, as against the three broadcasts of my right hon. Friend? I hope that my right hon. Friend will not pay attention to numbers but will maintain the quality, as he has done so far.
Sir Harmar Nicholls: Is my right hon. Friend aware that everyone expects him to keep in the closest contact with the CBI and the TUC and to share their experience and knowledge, but that, they would not expect him, having done that and come to a conclusion in the nation's interest, to be bullied off course as the Opposition were on "In Place of Strife"?