Clause 1. — (FINANCES OF RAILWAYS BOARD, WATERWAYS BOARD AND LONDON BOARD, 1962 c. 46.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Transport Finances Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 May 1966.

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Photo of Mr Peter Walker Mr Peter Walker , Worcester 12:00, 20 May 1966

I enjoyed the hon. Member's speech and I would say that we know his position. He made it clear. He is in favour of British Rail substantially increasing its fleet to do this work. This is a perfectly fair and reasonable view. What we object to is the failure of the Government to state that they support the hon. Member in his views that British Rail should take over much of the work now done by the private haulier by increasing its own fleet. All we ask is that the Minister should come to the Committee and state that she supports the National Union of Railwaymen and the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Molloy) in this policy.

We have failed to receive from either Parliamentary Secretary their view on this question. We can understand that. This is a major decision and it is reasonable that they should not know and should therefore hedge. But the fact is that the N.U.R. say that the only lorries to go into the terminals will be hired by British Rail from private hauliers for a period and that thereafter all this work will be done by British Rail lorries—