Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 29 February 1968.
Mr William Price
, Rugby
12:00,
29 February 1968
I am talking about the ill effects. Is it because the Government can find no other way of saving £20 million? If this decision is based on purely financial grounds—and this is the case that I seek to make—they will quite rightly stand condemned by the people of this country. But if it is because there is no hope for civilisation in the event of a nuclear conflict, they should tell the people the truth. In fact they will be doing little more—and this is where we shall disagree—than confirming what the vast Majority of people already suspect.
My hon. Friend gave the game away during an Adjournment Debate on 22nd February. Asked how long it would take to reactivate the organisation, he replied:
It depends. No doubt it would take some months to bring together all the volunteers and organise the force again…."—[OFFICIIAL REPORT, 22nd February, 1968; Vol. 759, c. 806.]
Is anyone seriously suggesting that any hostile nation would give us that much notice of attack? It is much more likely to be short, sharp, and disastrous, with the civil defence personnel, upon whom so many of our hopes are based, possibly being the first to be wiped out. How would the rest of us manage?
I know that many hon. Members on both sides believe that a nuclear attack would be preceded by months of intensive diplomatic activity during which civil defence plans could be put into action. I do not accept that view for one moment. What happened during the Cuban crisis? We had all that diplomatic activity, certainly not over months, but for a long period—
An adjournment debate is a short half hour debate that is introduced by a backbencher at the end of each day's business in the House of Commons.
Adjournment debates are also held in the side chamber of Westminster Hall.
This technical procedure of debating a motion that the House should adjourn gives backbench members the opportunity to discuss issues of concern to them, and to have a minister respond to the points they raise.
The speaker holds a weekly ballot in order to decide which backbench members will get to choose the subject for each daily debate.
Backbenchers normally use this as an opportunity to debate issues related to their constituency.
An all-day adjournment debate is normally held on the final day before each parliamentary recess begins. On these occasions MPs do not have to give advance notice of the subjects which they intend to raise.
The leader of the House replies at the end of the debate to all of the issues raised.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
