Basic Petrol Ration

Part of Orders of the Day — King's Speech – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 29 October 1947.

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Photo of Mrs Leah Manning Mrs Leah Manning , Epping 12:00, 29 October 1947

I should like to reinforce the plea which has just been made on behalf of the rural areas. I have had many letters from constituents who do not ask for petrol for pleasure motoring, but for really necessary purposes. At the same time, I do not think that I can agree with the statement just made about the "miserable lives" of the people in rural districts, because many of those people find pleasure and relaxation on their own doorsteps. I say that in passing. None of the people who have written or spoken to me about this matter have found out how the extra petrol is to be granted in cases where it is allowed.

I do not know if instructions have been issued by the Ministry, but I have had letters from people who need petrol for really essential reasons. These people have no public transport at all. There are no buses or trains, and they are unable to get any. One can appeal, they have found, to the Minister of Transport to do something in one's area, but nothing is ever done. I have people in my constituency who have to get up at 5.30 in the morning if they are to use the public transport available in this rural area in order to get to work. Many of the people have motor cycles, some of which have been bought with gratuities, and on which Purchase Tax has been paid. The Government has pocketed the tax, but now those people will have no use for their motor cycles. Furthermore, I have people in my constituency who have wooden legs, and if any man needs a supplementary petrol ration as much, or more, than anybody else, I should think it was the man with wooden legs. There are roads and lanes in my constituency which are very isolated. There are places in Epping Forest where attacks have been made on young children, and on women, but men cannot get petrol in order to bring their children home from school.

This is an area where, in places, there is no public transport, yet the people are turned down if they want petrol because of that. During the war there were allowances for various reasons; there was petrol to enable people to attend divine worship, but the applications of all the people of whom I speak have been turned down. I do not know, as I have said, if the Minister has issued any instructions, or whether the Department has so much work to do that there is a little girl clerk in charge who keeps saying, "No, no, no" to all applications. I wish the Minister had taken advice from people who understand the motor industry, from those who really know what is needed; and from those who live in rural areas. I do not believe the Minister has taken such expert advice. If he has, his answer tonight will not be an intransigent one, but will be one which will modify the situation of which he must now be aware.

I do not know whether the figures asked for by the hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr. Byers) are available, but I think we ought not to be asked to vote until we have had them. I asked this afternoon about the cut in the ration of petrol allowed to the military forces, including the Control Commission in Germany. Everyone knows that the amount of petrol wasted there is notorious and abominable, and we should be given the figures. We ought to know how much the Minister understands the situation, and what adjustments he is making in the matter of supplementary petrol, before we are even asked to vote on this question. I shall feel compelled, though most reluctantly, to vote against the Government tonight unless we have that information. If the information is such that I feel a reasonable case has been made out, I might even refrain from voting; but unless the Minister can give some much more reasonable information than we have at the moment, it is our duty to say that this is unfair not on wealthy people, but certainly on some middle-class people and on a very large number of working-class people, especially in the rural areas.