Having listened to this Debate, and winding it up from this side of the House, I want to deal with the one question which people in the country and Members on all sides of the House have been asking, and which has not been answered. We have heard a great deal in recent times of the dollar crisis, of inflation, Communist infiltration and overworked Ministries—in fact of our prosperity hanging in the balance. One question which we want to ask now is, why is gas being nationalised at this time? It is that fundamental question which has not really been answered at all by the Government.

The whole tone of this Debate was set by the brilliant speech of the right hon. Member for Bournemouth (Mr. Bracken). It was by far the best speech which we have heard this afternoon. He asked why it was necessary, in order to bring about reorganisation which everybody admits is needed, to bring this industry under public ownership and central control. I wish to show that the arguments which have been adduced by the Minister himself, and by hon. Members on the other side of the House who have come into this Debate, have not really seriously tackled this question of principle. On this Second Reading Debate it is a question of principle of nationalisation that we are discussing.

With regard to the remarks of the hon. and learned Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison) on the Heyworth Report and also those of the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. I. O. Thomas), it must be made clear at the outset—and I do not think the Minister will disagree—that the Bill, as it is now presented, is not on all fours with the Heyworth Report. That is a point which must be understood, not only in the House, but in the country. I am not going over the kind of arguments which we have heard about the various sections of the Heyworth Report. Suffice it to say that the Heyworth Report states that centralisation is not necessary in the organisation, and they do not bring directly into public ownership the shareholdings of the industry. Further than that, the industry itself, the British Gas Council, has come out against these nationalisation proposals, and that fact should be fully understood. I refer to their document, dated 23rd January, 1948, in which they make it quite clear, in page 27: Nationalisation of the gas industry, which political project has become as untimely, in present circumstances, as it is unjustifiable… The industry itself, and a large body of public opinion, are against this Bill. It is only the Socialists who are in favour of it. Therefore, one must look to see what are the reasons why they should try to bring in this Bill at this time. I remember some of the Minister's previous speeches. In this Debate gone was the fiery eloquence he used when he talked about coal. Gone, too, was the rather monotonous conviction he had when he talked about electricity. All that was left was a certain hesitancy which seemed to be born of overwork and the knowledge that his Ministry was already overworked and understaffed. He felt that it was another burden to be added to him. I do not think that he showed very much enthusiasm. He made three main points. The first was on the question of efficiency. During all these nationalisation Debates we have had Ministers and hon. Members opposite disparaging one industry after another. In the case of gas, that is the most unjustifiable of all. The Minister used the word "antiquated" with regard to this industry. That cannot be true.