Adjournment (Summer)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 23 July 1970.

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Photo of Mr Robert Sheldon Mr Robert Sheldon , Ashton-under-Lyne 12:00, 23 July 1970

We have in the Motion a unique situation. I refer to the problem of debating the proposed Adjournment of the House in a situation in which a large number of measures are to be introduced by the Government purely as a result of the timing of the General Election. The past month has seen the preparation of the programme of the Government which is, presumably, to be implemented over the next few months. That is the same period as the House will be in recess. A number of my hon. Friends have regarded this as such a serious matter that they are opposed to such a long Adjournment. I add my voice to theirs and say that this is a serious matter to me also. This is not simply a paper fight.

I am not speaking on behalf of special interests, only wishing to obtain certain satisfactions from whoever winds up a debate of this kind. There are large and serious matters that will be resolved by the new Government, and the resolving of them will be decided during the recess.

This is a matter of enormous importance to back-benchers. Either those decisions will be delayed and produced at the end of the recess or, what is much more likely, one decision after another will be taken without any influence being brought to bear by the House on those decisions. We know that many of those decisions are interrelated—for example, the Concorde and expenditure cuts, and cuts in investment grants; one has a relation to the other. If we express ourselves on one, it can have an influence on the next item on which decisions will be made.

This is the historic rôle of the House. As back-benchers we have an influence upon Ministers who come before us—for example, the Minister of Agriculture, who tells us that he will have an influence on those who threaten to increase prices. He said this evening that he will dissuade and discourage those who want to raise prices. The obvious question, which we would want to put to him throughout the recess if it were not so decided, would be to ask: if he can do that at a time of a docks strike, why he cannot accept that he has the same influence on those who want to increase prices throughout the year? Why does he deny himself this—