Orders of the Day — Annual Holiday Bill.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 27 November 1936.

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Photo of Lieut-Colonel Anthony Muirhead Lieut-Colonel Anthony Muirhead , Wells

It may be a Committee point, but at all events it is in the Bill to which the supporters of it propose to give a Second Reading today, and I have a perfect right, in support of my general argument to allude to it. The real point is this, that though people may want to legislate on particular points, if you carry legislation on points like this a great deal farther—and there are many other points which hon. Members have in mind—what you get cumulatively is a great blow at the system of voluntary, collective negotiation and agreement, which is not one merely of theoretical perfection, but is one to which we owe a very great deal of progress and achievement in the industrial life of this country and I would not be right, on a Measure like this, if I did not issue what I believe to be a real warning of a real danger. That brings one to the crucial point of the Debate. Are we really prepared to make a break in the system of collective, voluntary negotiation on this particular point?