Former MP for Isle of Thanet
May I say how glad we all are to see the hon. Gentleman the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker) back in the House in time to move the Second Reading of his Bill? I do not know how he feels after influenza, but I do not suppose that he feels any better than I did, and he has done a good job in making his speech directly after an attack from which, I understand, he only got out of bed this...
I am saying that there is compulsion at present partly because, by closing everything else, we are trying to force people into church and, of course, it does not work. That is the object. What other objects are there?
They see that at the moment and we cannot organise parents. I do not like what I have read about the Victorian Sunday and I do not believe that a child should be paraded for church. My mother adopted a rule which I adopt for my children and which I find successful. I say at breakfast time, "Does anyone want to go to church?" My children do not feel that they are being pushed into church, they...
I think I have answered the point in regard to church. The answer is that if one's conscience is strong enough the question of economics does not arise; if one's conscience is not strong enough, it is not worth very much. As I have said, that is what I was told by a Member on the other side who is powerful in the trade union world, and I certainly accept his words. The anomalies in the...
As the Government Front Bench would say, I should need notice of that question. The answer is that a great many Government Bills exclude Northern Ireland, and the hon. Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker) and I felt that it was not right to try to legislate for Northern Ireland without the consent and agreement of Northern Ireland Members.
I was under the impression, perhaps wrongly, that for Wales the position regarding the law is entirely different from that in Northern Ireland, and the hon. Member for Dagenham and I were of the impression that Welsh and English law on this matter could be brought together. [Interruption.] I cannot at this stage argue the case for a Welsh Parliament. To sum up, I am quite certain—and I...
Will the hon. Member bear in mind people who have no family? It is rather hard on them.
My hon. Friend's argument as far as I can understand it, is that the Communist powers do not want peace and are not prepared to negotiate it. If he follows that on, does not the third world war automatically follow?
