Orders of the Day — Transport Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:22 pm on 27 November 1979.

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Photo of Mr Leslie Huckfield Mr Leslie Huckfield , Nuneaton 6:22, 27 November 1979

I do not wish to continue along the lines of the speech of the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr. McNair-Wilson), because I cannot imagine that Sir Freddie Laker would wish to run rural bus services in Berkshire, but I intend to impose a self-denying ordinance of a 10-minute limit on my speech. I wish to make one or two brief comments on what has been said by the Minister. I say that particularly in view of the fundamental revolution in transport that the right hon. Gentleman promised in the Bill. He knows that what he is asking for, particularly in the deregulation and relicensing of coaching, will take us back to the jungle of the 1920s—unbridled and cut-throat competition. In the end we shall be forced to reintroduce the restrictions that he is now trying to dispose of. They will be needed for precisely the reasons that those restrictions and that licensing were introduced under the legislation in 1930.

I am worried because it is patently obvious that the right hon. Gentleman does not understand what will be the effect of his own legislation, particularly in terms of contract services and work services. He does not seem to understand the effect of permitting contract services to pick up fare-paying passengers. That is the interpretation which has been placed on the Bill. If it is not the effect of the Bill, I hope that he will strongly deny it.