Mr John Forrester: I am extremely grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity of addressing the House for the first time. I crave the indulgence of hon. Members on this occasion. I will endeavour to earn the gratitude of the House by being brief and please my hon. Friends by promising not to mention even once the Selective Employment Tax. I have the honour to represent Stoke-on-Trent, North....
Mr John Forrester: I beg to give notice that on Friday, 9th December, I shall call attention to slum clearance compensation, and move a Resolution.
Mr John Forrester: I oppose this Motion, because I believe that the desire to install television cameras permanently in the Chamber is based on a number of false assumptions. The first is the implied one that this is a step on the road to modernisation. This is quite wrong. To embrace the "magic box" is not to step right out of the nineteenth century into the middle of the twentieth. In the short time that they...
Mr John Forrester: Very often, hon. Members who are experts in the subject listen to a debate on a long and complicated Bill. The layman sitting in the House wonders how he and the general public can benefit by the subject being debated. My hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydvil (Mr. S. O. Davies) has devised a short and very simple Bill, but one which, nevertheless, is of vital importance to thousands of...
Mr John Forrester: I beg to move, That this House accepts that compensation in respect of houses found unfit for human habitation and scheduled for clearance should not impose an undue charge upon local authorities who are responsible for re-housing the displaced families, but calls upon Her Majesty's Government to consider by what means hardship to innocent individuals caused by the present rules of...
Mr John Forrester: This argument can continue afterwards. I was referring to the Act brought in by the last Government. I am sure that both the hon. Member and my hon. Friend are right in their separate ways. The point is whether enough Government compensation is being given to people turned out of their houses who often do not wish to be turned out. They are then faced with the problem of setting up new homes...
Mr John Forrester: Like everyone else inside and outside this House interested in education, I welcome and support this Report. For many years now I have been a member of the National Union of Teachers, and for 17 years before I came into the House I was a teacher in a junior school. If I should express the thoughts, hopes and fears of the primary school teachers in the next few minutes, I make no apology for...
Mr John Forrester: I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydvil (Mr. S. O. Davies) upon piloting the Bill through its various stages. I am prompted to rise to make a few remarks of commendation of my old friend Sir Barnett Stross, who spent many years in this House and would have longed to be here today. Before coming here he spent a considerable time in Stoke-on-Trent working on behalf of...
Mr John Forrester: I am pleased to have the honour of following the hon. Member for Walthamstow, West (Mr. Silvester). I am sure that the House joins me in congratulating him on a most interesting maiden speech. He is obviously well versed in the matters which he has brought to our attention, and he has given us much food for thought, even though some of my hon. Friends would not agree with everything that he...
Mr John Forrester: As the hon. Member for North Fylde (Mr. Clegg) said, there is a division of opinion between the two sides of the House about the type of rented property that we think there should be in this country. I do not propose to get into an argument with him now, but I think that we should agree strongly that we both desire a great extension of owner-occupation. I agree with the hon. Gentleman very...
Mr John Forrester: I hope that the House will allow me just a moment or two to associate myself with the kind word spoken from both sides of our late friend and colleague, Stephen Swingler. I know that his ability and integrity were admired in all parts of the House and by all sections of the community in his constituency. His death was a severe blow to us all who knew him for a number of years. At the same...
Mr John Forrester: One of the themes which has come from hon. Gentlemen opposite is that they think the people have a distrust of State schemes and computers. I think that that shows a singular lack of confidence in their prospects at the next General Election, otherwise they would not tend to think that the public have no faith in their Governments. I prefer to trust the Government, even one of a different...
Mr John Forrester: Presumably the private part of the scheme will fall, but that is another problem which I can take up with my hon. Friend on another occasion. A major overhaul of the nation's pensions system was obviously due. There was little evidence that private enterprise would, of its own free will, step in and provide adequate benefits for the majority of employees. There was even less evidence that it...
Mr John Forrester: I cannot hope to emulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Lane) by quoting poetry tonight. I appreciate that he telescoped his remarks considerably, and I shall endeavour to do likewise. In view of the overwhelming evidence there is against the 11-plus examination, it is in many ways rather unfortunate that my right hon. Friend felt it necessary to introduce the Bill. Nevertheless, I think...
Mr John Forrester: asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to improve the published statistical information on civil aviation.
Mr John Forrester: When can we expect the financial statistics to be published?
Mr John Forrester: A remarkable change has come over the attitude of the British people towards the reform of local government. Whether they have been converted or brainwashed or whether this is just another sign of apathy, I cannot say. Whatever it is, I think that we should not impose upon them sweeping reforms of local government without adequate discussion and examination. There is, I am afraid, still a...
Mr John Forrester: We shall have to try French if we get into the Common Market. The south of the county is on the doorstep of Birmingham and it naturally looks in that direction. In the North, if we look anywhere we look towards Manchester. There are no cultural ties between us. There are two distinct communities in North and South Staffordshire, and I would ask the Minister to have a look at a proposal to...
Mr John Forrester: I am sure that the Minister will take note of that. I was aware of that fact and was not supporting the county council in its representations. I have the consent of my hon. Friends the Members for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley), Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Mr. Cant) and Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Golding) to say that we think this is a reasonable and feasible proposition for Staffordshire....
Mr John Forrester: As so many hon. Members wish to speak, I will endeavour to take only a few minutes of the time of the House. I regarded it as a little unfair that the hon. Member for Hertfordshire, South-West (Mr. Longden), who has made such a great study of the question of what proportion of a person's income should be paid in rent, did not give us the benefit of his deep thought. The hon. Member went on...
