Orders of the Day — Supplies and Services (Transitional Powers) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 8 August 1947.

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Photo of Mr James Ede Mr James Ede , South Shields 12:00, 8 August 1947

I do not think that that is an accurate description of this Bill or of any of the preceding Bills with which it has been associated. Any regulation made under the Bill is subject to Parliament. Any general order made under the Bill is also subject to Parliament. [An HON. MEMBER: "When it is sitting."] As right hon. and hon. Gentlemen know, if Parliament is not sitting at the time when an order is promulgated or if, after an order has been promulgated, Parliament adjourns for more than four days, the period during which Parliament is not sitting does not count towards the period over which Parliament has appropriate control of the Measure. [Interruption.] The order takes effect; of course, it does.

If Parliament does not like the order it is wiped out and the only thing that then remains is that anything which has been done under an order until the time when it was rejected by Parliament remains valid. That is only saying something which is elementary knowledge to all of us who take part in the affairs of the House. The question, therefore, boils down to this—are the circumstances in which we are placed such as to justify this procedure? Is this method really applicable to the period in which we are? My own view, and the view of His Majesty's Government, is that in order to deal quickly and expeditiously with particular circumstances that may arise it is necessary to have these powers.

The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Woodford this morning asked what the courts had to do with it. Let us take an example of where an individual expresses doubt as to the validity of a Minister's action. There was the case of Stevenage. Doubt was expressed—it was legitimate doubt, I admit, and one judge was found to agree with the people who expressed doubt—as to the powers of the Minister and the action he had taken. It took nine months to get that issue settled. Serious as that was in the case of the new town of Stevenage—[Interruption.]—I consulted my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor about the proper pronunciation of the name of that place. He was born there and he has taken part of it as his title. The pronunciation that I have given is the one that has been approved by him.

That was a case where I agree the citizen had a right to inflict as much delay as was necessary on the action of the Government in his effort to establish his individual rights and to make quite certain that the Minister was acting entirely within the law. We may have to deal with a case of some producer of an article which is urgently required to be used in a particular way in redressing the balance of payments, and has to be sent to a particular place where he does not want it to be sent for his own particular personal reasons. To suggest that we should be left in doubt as to what power to use in an individual case like that, and that there shall not be the resources of the State to ensure that we shall be able to effect what we want, is. I think, straining the argument that I concede in the case of a new town.