Orders of the Day — Emergency Powers

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 February 1972.

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Photo of Mr Peter Doig Mr Peter Doig , Dundee West 12:00, 14 February 1972

There are many things that should not be done that legally can be done. That is the very point I am making.

We have another departure from past practice. It is common practice when unions members are on strike for them to try to "black", to try to prevent other people from using things produced by others, but what I have never heard of before is for, in this case, the miners to say that the coal they have themselves produced should not be used. This is a new and a dangerous departure. In my opinion the picketing of power stations to prevent them using their stocks of coal is or ought to be unlawful.

That is a highly dangerous precedent. It could lead to other unions saying that the one way to win a strike was to put some key industry out of operation, and the fact that the other industry had no connection or only a slight connection with the dispute apparently did not matter much. It could be that if we had an engineering strike, because the members of the union concerned make the machinery for the power stations they could decide to put the power stations out of operation. This is a highly dangerous precedent to set.

I ask the House to consider the effect of such a practice. In my area I have pensioners, disabled people, unemployed workers and low-paid workers. Those are the people who suffer most, because they cannot afford the alternative. Better off people can hop into their cars, get heat while travelling, go outside the zone affected by the cut, and get a meal at an hotel or restaurant. The people I am speaking of cannot do that.