Orders of the Day — Transport Commission (Annual Report)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 July 1952.

Alert me about debates like this

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Mr. Gurney Braithwaite):

For the third time in a period over a few weeks I have the privilege of following the hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan) at the end of a full day's debate on transport. Hon. Members who have been here all day will agree that this has been the most interesting of them, containing as it has a review of the past, an analysis of the present and more than one peep into the future. I think that I would describe it, however, a little differently.

I would say that we are at the close of what I would call Part I of a two-day debate on the virtues or vices of monopoly, and it will be interesting to us on this side of the House to see whether tomorrow the speeches of hon. Gentlemen opposite follow quite the same line as that to which we have just listened from my distinguished predecessor in the office which I now hold. [Interruption.] I hope I shall not get at cross purposes with the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Lindgren). We are not now discussing the fate of the friendly societies.

We ought to be clear at the end of a very interesting discussion, which has produced so many good speeches, on the issue of whether to move a commercial undertaking, be it under private enterprise or State control, out of the red into the black is right and proper or naughty and peccant, because over a number of years we have had a number of interesting theories on that particular subject. The question is whether it is right for the profit motive to penetrate into this sphere of the nationalised industries.

We have been discussing from 3.30 not the efficiency of the staffs of the British Transport Commission, but the practicality of the system which they have to operate. Naturally there has been a distinct cleavage of view on the two sides of the House. Hon. Members opposite, while they do not go the length of saying that all is well, say that all is a great deal better than before the passage of the 1947 Act. But the debate has hardly borne that out.

May I first of all take road haulage. On this side of the House, whether in or out of office we have never concealed our opinion that private enterprise can give a better service than any national organisation. I know—and here there will be common ground between us all—that the Executive and their staff have given of their best since they were established, anti nothing I say is in any way critical of their efforts. They have done their best, but in the process have demonstrated that road haulage is particularly unsuitable for centralisation.