Mr John Freeman: It must warm the hearts of most of us here who sit and long for a respectable opportunity to roll a log on behalf of our constituencies, that two hon. Members opposite have, on such a technical Bill as this, been perfectly justified in bringing in their constituencies—the hon. Member for Abingdon (Mr. Neave) and the hon. Member for Caithness and Sutherland (Sir D. Robertson). No doubt the...
Mr John Freeman: I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will follow me one stage further. It is a fact that employees of private firms, not direct employees of the Government, engaged in work of a secret character for the Gvernment, are not at present covered by the "Three Wise Men" procedure. So we are on a relevant point. I hope that I am correct in interpreting what the right hon. Gentleman has just said as...
Mr John Freeman: This issue is of fundamental importance. We look round the world and on one side and on the other we see liberty being taken away. It was my right hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall, when I was his assistant, who had, of necessity, to introduce these loathsome procedures; but it is of the utmost importance that we should make certain that this encroachment on liberty is not extended one inch...
Mr John Freeman: It is not usually very rewarding, but I will.
Mr John Freeman: That is a perfectly fair interruption, and I apologise if I appeared discourteous, but I do not propose to follow it. The point I am trying to make is perfectly simple and narrow. If one looks at the broad scope of the work of the Ministry of Supply as it exists at the moment, it is absurd to say that it is incapable of dealing with industry. The right hon. Gentleman put it forward in one...
Mr John Freeman: Would the Lord Privy Seal kindly elucidate that point further? The point I made was that the Clause gave the Lord President of the Council more power than was possessed by any Minister under the previous nationalisation Measures. If the Lord Privy Seal will be good enough to read subsections (2) and (3), he will find that that is absolutely correct. The Lord President will have power to give...
Mr John Freeman: Like many hon. Members, I find it extraordinarily difficult to follow in detail the purpose of this Clause, even after the helpful explanation of the Financial Secretary. Most of my education, such as it was, was concerned with events prior to A.D. 100, which does not help in dealing with matters of this kind. A few moments ago the Financial Secretary used arguments directed to the steel...
Mr John Freeman: I wish to add very little to what my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison) has said, because I think he has stated the argument with clarity. But there is one further point which I should like to ask the Minister to take into account before he gives us his final reply. My hon. and learned Friend has made it clear that nothing that is contained in our suggestions...
Mr John Freeman: The hon. Member is not really substituting for argument animal noises of that kind. Reading the political correspondence, I understand that that is his object and that he has a powerful following in his party. Many of us expect that the Ministry of Materials will not survive very long. The Minister himself has just disappeared. For all I know he may have gone to Downing Street to be told that...
Mr John Freeman: Like the Minister of Materials.
Mr John Freeman: During the remarks by the hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Nicholson), I was surprised to hear—I thought I heard him say it—that he had never visited the United States. We shall be interested to hear his account of it when he has visited it. Two speeches from the other side of the House have seemed to me to be of exceptional distinction and one was also of exceptional courage. The first...
Mr John Freeman: I beg to move, in page 4, line 36, at the end, to insert: (2) The Minister may at any time give to the Board any such directions as to the performance of their duty under the preceding subsection as he shall think fit in the national interest. The effect of this Amendment is to provide that at the end of the first subsection of Clause 3, which lays down the general duties of the Board, the...
Mr John Freeman: The hon. Gentleman was kind enough to say, when he began his explanation, that he hoped we would question him if he did not make himself entirely clear. I am looking as hard as I can at the Schedule which carries on the Schedule to the 1949 Act. I am not clear, however, what proportion of holding in a company the Agency must have before his words become true. While the Corporation exists,...
Mr John Freeman: Therefore, it would be fairly normal to refer to a majority shareholding. The words of the Financial Secretary would not hold good at anything like the figure in the Amendment.
Mr John Freeman: Would it not be fairer if the Minister were to put it in this way—that once this industry had come into public ownership the Federation or company were using their shareholders' money in order to remove shareholders' rights from the shareholders—and not the other way round?
Mr John Freeman: I am not sure that the Minister has got the point. The point he was making a moment ago was that it is perfectly reasonable for a trade association to use shareholders' money in order to prevent those same shareholders' property being filched from them. That is a point of view. What he omitted to tell us was that once nationalisation had taken place—and what we are charging is—the...
Mr John Freeman: Two days ago the Minister accepted an Amendment from one of his own supporters and then, on reflection, he qualified his acceptance and said he would consider some of the arguments put to him before the Report stage. Will he do the same here? As I understand the point, it is a really important one. I do not think any of us on this side of the Committee quarrel seriously with the contention...
Mr John Freeman: I beg to move, in page 13, line 16, at the end, to insert: and—Provided also that no sale or other disposal of any securities or other assets by the Agency the total consideration for which exceeds one hundred thousand pounds shall be valid unless the Minister shall have previously signified his approval thereof; and his approval shall not be effective, until he shall have so signified it...
Mr John Freeman: I should have said "Lancashire Steel Corporation" but I stated that I would quote verbatim. Within two miles of the"— Lancashire— Steel Corporation at the moment are Petrochemicals and a great concern making gas for the Manchester Corporation. How easy it would be under this Bill for such people to satisfy the desires of the Agency to realise the greatest amount of money by inducing them...
Mr John Freeman: I hope that the Minister will pay attention to the arguments addressed to him both from this side of the Committee and his own side. I am not associating myself with the opening remarks of the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Summers), but I thought that my hon. Friend's argument was very much to the point. I was glad to hear the latter part of the remarks of the hon. Member for Aylesbury,...