Former MP for Birmingham, Perry Barr
I hope the Minister will acquit me of any discourtesy in that I was not here to hear him moving this Clause. Unfortunately, I had to be in another part of the building at the time. I do not propose to make the speech I intended originally, because of the limitations of the flesh, but there are one or two points I should like to put to the right hon. Gentleman. I heard a good deal of the...
The Minister, I understand, is saying, "No."
I heard the Economic Secretary say that, and I noticed him shake his head when my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South-East (Mr. Champion) asked the question again today. Will the Minister say under what Clause other than Clause 5 he has permission to make these units of a size larger than 50 vehicles?
My hon. Friends and I have tried, but have failed, to find just how the Minister will overcome all this. However, it is the Minister's worry. He has taken the final power, it is he alone who can give directions to the Board, and it is he alone who exercises the final jurisdiction as to whether a tender is accepted. Therefore, it is not for me to take upon my shoulders the right hon....
That, of course, is what we all know. Not only is it what they put in their manifesto, but an even sadder point is that the man who lost his business by nationalisation will be the last man who can get an A licence to come back into the industry. If the Conservative Party only wanted competition in the industry, they could have liberalised the A licence holder and flooded the roads of the...
I do not know whether in a Second Reading speech I should be allowed to refer to the noble Lord, but I am referring to the new Clause which has the blessing of the noble Lord. In relation to this Clause he would be well advised to read some of the things he said about integration and co-ordination of transport and how integration of small units was desirable in days gone by. His capacity for...
As the Minister has been dealing with the selling of the companies, would this not be an opportune time to deal with the point of what guarantee there is that there will be no merger of companies?
Can the Economic Secretary, then, give the number of vehicles which Messrs. Pickfords had on the road and in which the railway companies had a substantial holding, and of Hay's Wharf, in which they had a majority holding? Surely those two companies alone represented very much more than 500 vehicles.
