Monopoly Practices

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 15 June 1951.

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Photo of Mr Percy Daines Mr Percy Daines , East Ham North 12:00, 15 June 1951

I do not see why the hon. Member should be so touchy. I am leaving rubber tyres alone. I will try not to provoke him again. On the question of informed public opinion, we are up against the difficulty that the Press of this country relies on heavy advertisement expenditure. I should like to say, in passing, that there are one or two honourable exceptions. I wish that the "Daily Herald" were a bit keener on this question than it is, but I should like to make the exception, in my general stricture, of the "Manchester Guardian," for the learned, and the "Daily Mirror," for ordinary people like myself. They have done really good service.

The Monopolies Act, poor as it is, depends on the drive that the Government put behind it. I submit that the Commission was woefully inadequate even for the limited function it set out to perform. It was appointed on 7th January, 1949, with two full-time members and six part-time members. Then the House became uneasy. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Huyton, who was then President of the Board of Trade, took a strong stand, and at the end of 1950 he enlarged the Commission to two full-time and seven part-time members, of whom two have agreed to devote the greater part of their time to the work. By the end of 1950 the staff had increased to 60. There is no economist on the staff. I must admit that in other debates I have made nasty comments about economists, and I do not suppose that I have finished yet; but it is really fantastic that on this problem, which is fundamentally economic rather than legal, there is only one part-time economist connected with the Board, and that is Mrs. Joan Robinson, who is one of its members.

I find that the cost of the Commission, according to the Board of Trade Vote for 1949–50 was £32,741. Let us test these figures by comparison with what is happening in the United States of America. It is no good hon. Members allowing their foreign policy hangovers to run into this question, because it will get them all wrong. There is clear evidence that in the United States, after all their mistakes, they are getting to the stage where they are creating effective weapons to enable them to tackle this problem.

The Anti-Trust Division of the United States Department of Justice is headed by the Assistant Attorney-General. That is rather encouraging when I look at the ex-Attorney-General who is now President of the Board of Trade. I am sure that this will interest him. They employ 300 lawyers. They also employ 30 to 40 economists, which is a fact which will please my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucestershire, South. On top of that, they have a staff of 260. The total staff is 600 people who are highly trained and efficient and who have a great body of experience behind them.

But that is not all the story. The Federal Trade Commission, which carries out very similar functions, has five full-time Commissioners, appointed for seven years in order to give them a sense of security and freedom of movement, and a staff of 600, which is similar to the staff employed in the Anti-Trust Division of the United States Department of Justice.

I submit in all seriousness that our method of tackling this problem is trivial. We have a total expenditure of £33,000 and employ 60 people. That is surely trifling compared with America even after making due allowance for differences in population and volume of trade. We employ 60 people against their 1,200. Our expenditure on this problem is £33,000 and we have a total industrial turnover of £10,000 million. I think that it is a modest estimate to say that the amount of monopoly trade is one-third of the total turnover in this country.

With all due respect to my own friends and comrades, whatever their position today, the plain fact is that drive has not been put behind this fight. Three years have passed. I do not want to quote the Parliamentary time-table, though I have it here. It is a most lamentable document of evasion and procrastination. I do not think that we have been serious in the way we have tackled this evil thing. We are not really making a fight over it.

What have we done in connection with the Federation of British Industries? We ask them to come along and play ball—to get all the boys at the bottom who run trade associations to listen kindly. These trade associations are run by professional people whose whole-time job is to run trade associations. They are not going to talk themselves out of their jobs as a result of hearing a few kind words.

I suppose that if I say that I have a special interest in the Co-operative movement I am likely to attract the usual diatribe later in the debate. The former President of the Board of Trade, speaking on behalf of the Government, made a very fair statement months ago about the practices operated against the Cooperative movement. Sweet words are no good at all. For the moment, I am trying to give the views of the Co-operative movement on this point. The other views I have expressed are my own.

The Co-operative movement maintains its active opposition to anti-social monopolies and restrictive practices—and, despite the statements of the former President of the Board of Trade, restrictive practices against the Co-ops, rather than diminishing, are actually increasing. The Co-ops are still barred completely from selling newspapers. The sale of newspapers is controlled by one of the most pernicious rings in the country. Hon. Members on all sides know that. The Co-ops are still barred completely from selling a whole range of other commodities. There has also been a new development as a result of which they can be supplied only at retail prices. They cannot be supplied, like the ordinary retail trader, at wholesale prices. I repeat, they can be supplied only at full retail prices. In many instances, manufacturers have refused to supply the Co-ops at all.

I believe that the Co-operative movement is the only really effective organised body of consumers in this country. I believe that the only honest approach to the broad functions of Parliament is in the name of all the people, and all the people are consumers. Therefore, I maintain that the defender of the public interest on this question must be the Government.

I cannot argue all my points fully, because that would take too long, so I will give them briefly. Present legislation is not sufficient. New legislation and new drive are essential. I am talking directly to the President of the Board of Trade, because I believe that he will do something—at least, I have hopes. New methods must be employed. I submit to him and to the Government that the present method of casual reference to the Monopolies Commission is hopeless.

I want to put to the President of the Board of Trade and to the House quite seriously that the first thing we must do if we mean business is to survey the whole field, There is plenty we can learn from other countries. I know we are a wonderful people but we do not know it all, and on this question we can learn a lot not only from the United States of America but also from Sweden, where really effective action has been taken. One of their most important weapons has been the compulsory registration of every agreement which is of a cartel or trust nature.

What a different position that would be. Instead of a hamstrung Commission controlled by a string from the Board of Trade, we would have the whole economic field covered by having compulsory registration of all agreements. That method has been highly successful in Sweden because of the publicity given in the trade papers, and quite a lot of those agreements have never been carried through after the light of day had been thrown upon them, because the Swedish people are educated in these problems.

I ask the Government seriously to consider the experience of Sweden and to make compulsory the registration of all those agreements. Then we should not be putting at the end of the business for Wednesday an Order about dental goods; we should instead be tackling in full debate the vital elements of industry that affect the whole of our lives. Therefore, I repeat that the present method of casual reference is a hopeless and quite unrealistic one. Although I shall support the Order which we are to consider next Wednesday, I do not like the individual approach.

I hope also that the House will realise what it is going to do. It is going to condemn and make illegal practices in regard to the supply of dental goods that are widespread throughout much of our industry. It is a most invidious position, a most dangerous position, but nevertheless one that I shall support. [Interruption.] Certainly. The practice is wrong and therefore it should be condemned and stopped, but I want the Government to go straight into general legislation and make all these practices illegal as well as individual cases.

I am not prepared to support the usual game by which the trust boys and the monopolists fight by delay and procrastination. The whole history of the fight against monopoly and trade rings has been to play it down, defer, and then bring legal actions again to postpone. That is always the difficulty. The people who fight monopolies are not equipped to do this kind of work. The Government should create the equipment necessary to carry on the fight. I understand to the full why hon. Gentlemen opposite find it rather amusing when I express myself in the way I do. They very often operate these very tactics I am exposing.

These practices are strangling the economic recovery of our country. I repeat what I said earlier, that we must appreciate the seriousness of these crimes against the community, and we should do with them what is done in the United States of America, and make them criminal practices. Until we do that we shall never tackle this problem. Therefore, new legislation is essential and the Government should have courage on this issue. I know how miserable is the majority of half a dozen but we should also have the full support of the Liberal Party on this problem, I know.

I know also that there are many elements in the Conservative Party, including those with whom I often argue fiercely on other questions, who are broadly sympathetic to real legislation on this matter, though I must admit that often, when I have bad dreams about nasty monopolies, I see the rather portly figure of the right hon. Member for Alder-shot (Mr. Lyttelton). Nevertheless, it takes all sorts to make a party and, after all, we are all sorts on these benches.

I want the new type of Commission I am talking about to be given real powers of initiation. Let them create a real Commission which is not controlled by a nice little string from the Board of Trade. When policy is being formulated I often wonder who does it. I can see all these vested interests moving in behind and, with all due respect, vested interests are not always those who own things. I can well imagine that civil servants do not want to relinquish power. It would be interesting, Mr. Speaker, if we could say sometimes what was really in our minds. It is often the case that power, or the desire to hold power, is a far stronger motive than the one to hold wealth. We could have a very interesting discussion on what really motivates us.

Above all things, in this new legislation for which I am asking we should have ample finance and ample staff. I do not particularly like P.R.Os., but if this job is to function properly we must have adequate publicity. In addition, I am asking for the complete abolition of the prescription of minimum resale price by manufacturers. I am asking for legislation to prevent interference with the distribution of profit by way of dividend or deferred discount on purchases, either collectively or by individual manufacturers.

It is usual, after taking nearly 30 minutes, to apologise to the House for speaking so long. I do not intend to apologise to the House, much as I respect everybody who is present. These facts needed to be stated. If I have been critical of my own Government, so be it. I am not prepared to soft-pedal on a problem which I sincerely believe to be one of the most vital economic problems of today. This is one of the fields where the fight to cheapen the cost of living could really be effective, but it can only be made effective if there is drive, fresh thinking and honest endeavour behind the fight against the evil things which I and my colleagues are fighting.