Orders of the Day — Shops Bill [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 9:49 pm on 14 April 1986.

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Photo of Frank Cook Frank Cook , Stockton North 9:49, 14 April 1986

Anyone who tried to deny that the existing regulations on Sunday trading did not require revision would be accused, rightly, of speaking nonsense. Of course they are crazy and of course they need amending. But the fact that they require amendment is no justification for removing all control on Sunday trading.

I have been surprised by those who have argued that the Bill is justified because the current law is not enforced. It is said that many shops open freely and that no action is taken against the owners. If that logic had been carried to its conclusion some time ago and it had been applied to the murder and mutilation that was perpetrated by Jack the Ripper, the repeal of capital punishment would have occurred about three quarters of a century earlier than it was achieved by sound reason.

Another reason given by a Conservative Member was that right hon. and hon. Members can apparently take the opportunity to break the law by purchasing whatever they like on a Sunday. Therefore, the fact that hon. Members can do that is some form of justification. I suggest that that is another form of twisted and convoluted logic. If that form of rationale were applied, it would mean that we would shortly be legalising prostitution and importuning in public. I cannot accept that that would in any way justify our discussions tonight.

The hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Mr. Fairbairn) referred to the postbag syndrome with a degree of almost contempt in his voice. I suggest that any hon. Member who has the temerity or audacity to disregard the genuine representations of any of his constituents does so at his or her peril at the next election. It does not cut any ice in my mind to say that the majority of the electorate want to see the removal of all controls. That has been said previously. I do not believe that, nor do I believe that the public believe that. I have had over 160 letters against and six in favour of these proposals.

I have had several petitions against the Bill from many parishes in my constituency. All of those were in the prescribed form of parliamentary prayers and acceptable to the House. I have had one for the proposed change collected by a supermarket, outside my constituency incidentally, containing names which included Roy Rogers and Mickey Mouse residing at addresses in Hollywood and the O K Corral and some slightly nearer my home in the east. That petition was clearly unacceptable in its presented form.

How can we genuinely assess the Home Secretary's assertion that the petition score to date is 1·4 million in favour and 1·2 million against? What yardstick can we use? If we no longer count the number of signatures, perhaps we may be able to get some idea by counting the number of petitions. One hundred and six petitions have been presented to the House in proper parliamentary form. That number reflects only those which were acceptable.

What about those presented for the proposals? I made inquiries at the Journal Office earlier today. I received a written reply from the Clerk, when he had checked the records, in which he said: I have checked that there have been no petitions in favour of unlimited Sunday trading which have been in order…All petitions presented up to today have been in favour of some kind of regulation of such trading. They were not in favour of removal.

I suggest that we need some evidence of the Home Secretary's assertion that there were 1·4 million in favour and 1·2 million against. I simply do not believe that, and I challenge the Home Secretary to substantiate that statement here and now or to have the common decency to withdraw it before the vote tonight.

The truth is that the Government are hell-bent on a doctrinaire and dogmatic approach. We have a skilfully negotiated emphasis on Second Reading rather than on a reasoned amendment. I suspect that that is a means of regimenting the reluctant Conservative rookies who might have conscientiously sought refuge in the more sensible approaches counselled by an Opposition more in tune with the genuine concern of an anxious electorate.

I submit that the motion for a two-hour extension of debate until midnight, which we shall be considering in about six minutes, is no more than a cynical ploy to allow the more craven Conservative representatives, who have publicly expressed opposition to these proposals, to present some specious statement of sterile objection before cowering to the pressure of their party's bully boys and whispering their abstention in the Smoking Room as usual. I remind them that there will be no place to hide when the Division lists are published, and the next election is not many Sundays away from tonight.