Ford's went beyond the social contract, although whenever anyone does that there is always someone on the Government benches who finds a way of saying that it was within the spirit of it. We almost need an archbishop in permanent residence to interpret the spirit of it.

The Prime Minister's speech saw a position in which wage claims would be made which went beyond the social contract and in which employers would concede those claims. That, for a start, was an indication that the right hon. Gentleman believed that the social contract was inadequate to deal with wage inflation. On the same day, 4th October, we heard the Secretary of State for Industry say in a BBC radio programme that the social contract was not intended to keep down wages. No one suggests that the social contract is to be a repressive measure for keeping down wages. But I am sure the Foreign Secretary agrees that the object of the exercise was to contain wage increases within the cost of living. Therefore, it seems that we have another different interpretation by the Government.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who is perhaps more cautious, said that the social contract was intended merely to create a good atmosphere in which negotiations could take place. We know that the 12-month rule has been breached already. We know that there have been awards going beyond the norm in the social contract, even taking 20 per cent. and not 8·4 per cent. as the base line. Therefore, we are entitled to ask the Government what are their proposals with regard to the social contract if it is breached, as it has been.

I want now to say a word or two about industrial relations. My colleagues and I voted with the last Government for the repeal of the Industrial Relations Act. We also voted for the successful amendments to the trade union and Labour Relations Bill, one of which was moved by a Liberal Member. In our view those amendments contained important conscience clauses. If it is right that the Secretary of State for Employment has received a delegation from the trade union movement and has felt unable to go the whole way with the trade unions in seeking to repeal those amendments, in my view he is taking a highly reputable stand on the issue of individual conscience and individual rights which we shall be prepared to back in this House.

The Prime Minister asked whether the Liberal Party still believed in the slogan that God gave the land to the people. The answer is "Yes". But the slogan was never that God gave the land to the State. Perhaps the Prime Minister, with his expert knowledge of history, will remind himself of the 1909 Budget, which was the great controversy which so distressed the Conservative Party both here and in Another place. The object as far as land was concerned was that, in order to return to the community the enhanced value that the community had conferred upon land, either by development alongside it or by granting planning permission, there was to be site value rating. This is the way to return the value to the community and to induce the owner to put to the best possible use the land which he owns. It is a more effective and less inflationary and expensive way of carrying out this proposition than the Government have suggested. I have no doubt that we shall have an opportunity to go into these matters in detail when the Government introduce their measures.

As for housing, I believe that the Conservative policy of 9½ per cent. mortgages was as irresponsible as it was unworkable. The demand for subsidised mortgages would have come at the very time when the building societies had started to repay the £500 million which they had been lent by the Government, so creating another liquidity crisis. I ask the Government to consider whether they cannot reverse the trend in mortgages so that we begin with a low-start mortgage, with higher repayments coming later towards the end of the mortgage. At present a young married couple pay the highest repayments of interest and capital at the beginning of the mortgage, when they are least able to afford it. The building societies, which are very conservative bodies, should be asked to give this matter greater attention than they have so far. If they are not prepared to do so, I hope that the Government will widen the powers of the Housing Corporation so that it may carry out this operation.

The Government having started, on a cautious basis, indexed national savings bonds, I should like to see consideration given to indexed property bonds, which is one way of getting capital into our housing industry.

On rates, I hope that we shall hear something very soon. Here the problem was that the Conservative Government reformed local government without reforming local government finance. Now they have sought to reform local government finance by making it virtually nonexistent. I believe that local authorities must be given the power to raise local taxation, and I revert to my belief that site value rating is a more effective and fairer way of levying rates than the system we have at the moment.

I shall not touch on agriculture today save to say that there is a desperate crisis in the livestock industry. Slaughter figures have been going up consistently, not because farmers are slaughtering to make a profit but because they are trying to do all they can to cut their losses. Many farmers know that hay, which was £35 a ton last year, is now costing anything between £70 and £100 a ton, if it can be bought. Unless we do something, and I suggest that it is perfectly proper, to have a temporary guaranteed price until certainly 1st March, when it should be possible to negotiate a more permanent settlement in Europe—we have always taken this view—not only will farmers be cutting back the national herd but there will be a meat shortage in the country in the very near future.

On Northern Ireland the Government are entitled to the support of the vast Majority of the House provided they proceed along the lines indicated in the Gracious Speech. It is not unreasonable to ask whether all hon. Members, and particularly those who represent Ulster constituencies, accept that this Government and this country, who are giving immense military and economic support to Northern Ireland, have the right to expect them to play a responsible part in trying to implement power sharing between the two communities in Northern Ireland. Without that, I believe that there is only a very bleak future for the Province.

The Foreign Secretary touched on the Middle East. As he said, it is too early to conjecture whether the new dimension on the West bank of the PLO being recognised as a quasi-governmental body will make Israeli acceptance of a new position more difficult or whether, though it may make it more difficult, it may make a settlement more meaningful at the end of the day. We shall not know that for several months. I do not believe that the present posture adopted by Syria is very encouraging for the Kissinger initiative, but we must await the outcome of that.

I had hoped that the right hon. Gentleman might say something about the need for arms control between France, Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, particularly in the Middle East. It is extraordinary that over the years we have expended an immense amount of time and diplomatic energy in maintaining the peace while the four big Powers involved have been responsible for supplying arms, usually to both sides, and have thrown up their hands in horror when our customers have made use of the sales.

I listened with great interest to the right hon. Gentleman on Europe. I have not overcome the Opposition which the Prime Minister harboured for a long time on the question of the referendum quite so fully as he has. If the result of the referendum is to be mandatory on Members of this House, it may cause a few hon. Members to go against specific promises and undertakings which they entered into between themselves and their electors at the last election and before. I should hate to have to see a referendum which came down in favour of staying in Europe which would mean that the right hon. Members for Stepney and Poplar (Mr. Shore) and Ebbw Vale (Mr. Foot) would be told that they must accept it and go against promises they made to their electors to pull out of Europe.

If we are to have a referendum and, who knows, another election—and these other matters will become more apparent according to the Foreign Secretary—I believe that there should be a free vote of the House of Commons first. If there is to be a free vote for the British people, I do not sec why the House of Commons should be the only outfit that is shackled on this issue. The outcome of that free vote should be the subject matter of the referendum, namely, that the country should be asked whether it agrees with the decision taken by the House of Commons. If it agrees, that is the end of it. If it does not, there will have to be a Dissolution and a fresh House of Commons more accurately elected to represent the views of the British people.

If we are so anxious to have a forthright system of consultation and democracy in this country, may I hope that the study which the Labour Government carried out between 1965 and 1966 might be published. The Lord President of the Council, who was at that time the Chief Whip, said that the present voting system was unfair to minorities. He said that the Government had taken the view that the time had arrived when they must examine in depth the methods of electing Members of Parliament other than on the present straight majority method. I ask the Prime Minister whether that report can be published, and also when the Crowther-Hunt inquiries to which he referred on 25th July in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (Mr. Steel) might be published too. Therefore, I hope that the Government will at least give us the benefit of their thinking on these matters.

May I say to the Leader of the Opposition that when he makes the point, which is mathematically correct, that 60 per cent. of the electorate did not vote for the Government, that in a sense, I think, reduces his hitherto unquestioned support for the doctrine of the mandate. I do not question the doctrine of the mandate. A government are a government if they have a majority. But if the Leader of the Opposition is worried by this situation, as I am, it would be interesting to know whether in logic he is prepared to consider the system which makes it a possibility and a reality or whether he wishes to blame the system when it does not help him but do nothing about altering it. If so, he would not have logic on his side and many of the Conservative slogans would not ring very true.

If the situation in this country is as bad as politicians say, and I believe that it is, the people of this country expect and will accept leadership from both the Government and the House of Commons. I do not believe that the people are interested in who coined the phrase "national unity" or who first became the prophet of gloom and doom. The Government must realise that any Government of this country which have policies which are fair and far-sighted are entitled to expect and should be able to achieve support beyond the ranks of their own party, not only in the House but outside.

The Government are entitled to put every single measure in the Queen's Speech on the basis of which they won the last election, albeit on a minority vote. But whether they are wise to do so is entirely another matter. All the contentious issues raised in February and October are contained in the Gracious Speech. This country is more in a mood for a recipe to cure inflation and is prepared to accept measures which are tough provided they are fair. My criticism of the Queen's Speech is that it is much more a lecture on the doctrines of Socialism than it is a programme to meet the needs of the nation.