Mr Alan L. Williams: I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, North (Mr. Moyle) for his very able and comprehensive speech. I am not so sure that it was the beginning of an election campaign for the G.L.C. I think that our case in this respect has yet to be deployed, but my hon. Friend did show the general line on which our attack can be made. I should also like to congratulate the hon....
Mr Alan L. Williams: I am grateful for that assurance. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can tell us when the working party set up by the G.L.C. to consider the whole question of the disposal of industrial sludges and toxic wastes is likely to make its recommendations known. I want now to refer to some omissions from the Bill, particularly in relation to Part II, which concerns land. It is well known that, for the past...
Mr Alan L. Williams: I realise that some of my criticisms might be misconstrued by hon. Members opposite as slightly on the unfair side—
Mr Alan L. Williams: If I may, I wish to answer the brief point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Shoreditch and Finsbury (Mr. R. W. Brown), so that there may be no misunderstanding in my constituency. I think that my constitutents would be wholly opposed to building a prison on Rainham Marshes. I go back to my main criticism that it is a great pity there is no provision in the Bill for improvement of the...
Mr Alan L. Williams: May I enlighten the hon. Member with a practical example in respect of the London Borough of Havering, which is primarily controlled by Conservatives? There, the programme is falling. Last year, the council built a dozen houses, although there were 4,000 people on the waiting list.
Mr Alan L. Williams: I quote from Lloyd's List of 17th December: It would be easy enough for the Conservative Party's eager spokesman to make plenty of fire-breathing speeches about local autonomy, centralised bureaucracy and full unfettered enterprise during the debate on the Bill. But before he does so, he might be well advised to listen to the port employers, and find out just how the men who actually have to...
Mr Alan L. Williams: Would the hon. Gentleman not agree that the management of the Port of London Authority is overwhelmingly in favour of shipping companies, and that they must take their share of responsibility if there has been any slowness in developing Tilbury?
Mr Alan L. Williams: Mr. Alan Lee Williams rose—
Mr Alan L. Williams: I congratulate the hon. and gallant Member for Arundel and Shoreham (Captain Kerby). I understand that he has not spoken in the Chamber for some time. I cannot understand why he is so modest. Obviously he can take care of himself. His was one of the very few speeches from the benches opposite which I have been able to understand.
Mr Alan L. Williams: The hon. and gallant Gentleman has completely pre-empted my next comment. I was about to say that part of the confusion arises from the number of lawyers who have taken part in the debate. Part of it arises from the manner in which the right hon. and learned Member for St. Marylebone (Mr. Hogg) opened the debate for the Opposition. His was a very curious speech, even for him. Most of us who...
Mr Alan L. Williams: I shall listen with great interest, because I believe that the hon. Gentleman will have great difficulty in proving the case. I shall not argue that there is not a very strong case for Parliamentary redistribution outside London where there are very large constituencies. I represent a very large constituency of 110,000. I recognise the difficulties involved in a constituency of this size. It...
Mr Alan L. Williams: The subject to which I wish to refer may appear to some hon. Members to have only a limited interest, but I believe that it raises question of general interest for London as a whole. It is certainly not a constituency matter, because the western entrance of the Royal Victoria Dock is outside my constituency. The Port of London Authority has decided to delay the closing of this lock for a...
Mr Alan L. Williams: Is my hon. Friend aware that there has been an increase of 60 per cent. in the use of this lock by ships? That being so, it is clear that barges will have to wait before they can get their turn to go through the lock.
Mr Alan L. Williams: As a rule, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you approve of short speeches. Indeed, you have been known to appeal to hon. Members to make their remarks brief. I can only conclude that the hon. Member for Walsall, South (Sir H. d'Avigdor-Goldsmid) had that appeal very much in mind when he initiated the debate. I should have liked to have had fuller explanation of some of the Clauses. I am thankful, however,...
Mr Alan L. Williams: Only last week we had a debate on foreign affairs in which the Opposition ran out of speakers and the Whips had to run around and find Members to speak.
Mr Alan L. Williams: I wish to speak in favour of the Motion that we should adjourn for the time proposed so that the Minister of Transport may reconsider the decision he has taken in respect of the Upminster-Emerson Park-Romford line, which affects my constituency, a decision which will cause great hardship locally. I hope that the opportunity will be taken during the Recess to reconsider that decision. It is...
Mr Alan L. Williams: No I shall not give way to the hon. and learned Member—to any other hon. Member, yes.
Mr Alan L. Williams: I did not see the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds rise. I saw only the hon. and learned Member for Antrim, South (Sir Knox Cunningham) rise.
Mr Alan L. Williams: The whole burden of my intervention is that these matters should be properly evaluated by hon. Members, but there is no point in exaggerating them. The Leader of the House will face a challenging few months with very important legislation on matters coming before the House during this Session. We should pay tribute to him for the way in which he has faced his task and the challenges which...
Mr Alan L. Williams: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the only political party which attempts to recruit under the school leaving age is the Conservative Party, when it tries to recruit young children into the Young Briton movement?