Mrs Mary McAlister: We have heard a lot today about the improvement in public health since the advent of the National Health Service. I am sorry that the Minister is going away.
Mrs Mary McAlister: As I was saying, we have heard a lot about the revolutionary changes in public health since the advent of the National Health Service. Even if I sat on the Government benches—which heaven forbid—I could not deny a word of that. There is no doubt about it. It is not long since I told the Scottish Standing Committee of the revolutionary changes which I have seen in my lifetime, such as the...
Mrs Mary McAlister: Is it not a fact that it will be five years before Yorkhill is available? The right hon. Gentleman has now admitted that we shall lose the maternity beds at Lennox Castle. They must obviously be put against the beds that we are getting in other places.
Mrs Mary McAlister: Was it the Government's anxiety to reduce the number of people on National Assistance which led them to reduce National Assistance by 5s. last year and to give a spurious rise in pensions?
Mrs Mary McAlister: I have always had a great respect for the hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. George), whom I regard as a very solid man, but tonight I find that he has another quality which, as a Celt, I must admire—he has a very rosy imagination. I can only say that if 50 per cent. of the people in Scotland have had new houses since 1919 I shudder to think of what the situation was before then. If those...
Mrs Mary McAlister: The hon. Gentleman says that the Government has appealed to the private owners, but if they have had to appeal so constantly to the private owners, what good was the Act?
Mrs Mary McAlister: Is the hon. Gentleman honestly telling the Committee that the Rent Act is operating smoothly in Glasgow?
Mrs Mary McAlister: I will tell the hon. Gentleman later.
Mrs Mary McAlister: At the risk of being accused of repetition, which, if the truth be told, I do not myself like very much, I wish to say a few words about the 5 per cent. Purchase Tax. Most of us know—at least, I think I know—that the Chancellor is a humane man. But I wonder whether he is out of touch with the realities of life in certain parts of the country. There is no doubt that in many areas north of...
Mrs Mary McAlister: Some of them get used to it.
Mrs Mary McAlister: I wish 'to make one or 'two very short points. First, I want to congratulate the Chancellor on the relaxation of the regulations governing the payment of post-war credits. This will prove a financial boon to many people, not only in my own constituency, but all over the country. I should have liked to have seen the 5 per cent. tax on household necessities like bedding, furniture, and so...
Mrs Mary McAlister: I am not concerned with what adjective the hon. Member uses in relation to these unfortunate people, and I make no apology for my statement. We heard a lot yesterday from right hon. and hon. Members on the other side as to what the Tory Government had done for old-age pensioners compared with what the Labour Government had done. Might I respectfully remind the Committee that the Labour...
Mrs Mary McAlister: I should like to return again to the question of maternity beds, a question which I have raised in the House more than once during the past year and which is rapidly becoming tragic in Glasgow. The Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow stated quite emphatically in his 1957–58 Report that practically no progress had been made in this matter. He repeated practically the same words to the...
Mrs Mary McAlister: Can the hon. Gentleman tell us when the work at Yorkhill will be completed?
Mrs Mary McAlister: The hon. Gentleman has said that there is no apparent reason why the wash-hand basin should be in the bathroom, but I think that it is an elementary requirement that it should be in the bathroom. I think this should be specifically written into the Bill, and I cannot accept what he says.
Mrs Mary McAlister: We are spending public money, and according to this the wash-hand basin could be anywhere.
Mrs Mary McAlister: In the constituency which I represent, there is a very large proportion of disrepair certificates in force at present, whereby the landlords have lost some rent. It seems to me that, under the terms of this Clause, a landlord can now receive public money to put the property in some sort of order and then put up the rent. Can that be right?
Mrs Mary McAlister: I am grateful that the Minister has accepted the principle of our Amendment. I may be guilty of oversimplification, but there was a time when I used to think that it would be extraordinary for a hot water supply to be in operation in a house but not to find its way to the kitchen sink or to the bath. Bitter experience, however, has taught me better. Different people have very different ideas...
Mrs Mary McAlister: We are worried about justice.
Mrs Mary McAlister: Hard cases make bad law.