Mr Gordon Oakes: I have listened with care to the Minister. None of my hon. Friends has suggested that an inefficient and badly run direct labour organisation should be allowed to continue in that way. We are anxious about unfettered power being given to any Secretary of State. The Minister said that the words "if he thinks fit" do not bypass the courts. Therefore, if a Secretary of State—I used the word...
Mr Gordon Oakes: I do not blame my hon. Friend for thinking that. It is perfectly reasonable for any layman to think that if the words "as he thinks fit" are included in a Bill the courts have no power over the Secretary of State because he would say that he had thought fit. I can tell my hon. Friend that, as a Minister, I went from the Department of Energy to being Minister of State at the Department of...
Mr Gordon Oakes: By nodding his head, the Minister of State indicates that that is the position. In those circumstances, although we feel strongly about giving powers to the Secretary of State, and since there is a fetter enforceable by the courts of the land, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Mr Gordon Oakes: I have listened carefully to the Minister. My hon. Friends all said that the amendments that we were moving were modest and that they were desired by all three local authority associations. The Minister has not seen fit to concede even those modest amendments. The hon. Gentleman has given nothing to the House. Even on the de minimis principle it is clear from the attitude of the Government...
Mr Gordon Oakes: I beg to move amendment No. 53, in page 13, line 15, leave out 'if he thinks fit' and insert 'where a local authority has failed to conform with the appropriate statutory provisions'.
Mr Gordon Oakes: These amendments cover an important point of principle on local authority freedom. The Secretary of State and Ministers have prided themselves on the fact that the Bill is designed to reduce central Government power over local government and to let local government get on with its job. Yet under this clause the Secretary of State is taking unprecedented powers, in that when he has received a...
Mr Gordon Oakes: The hon. Member for Caernarvon (Mr. Wigley) is right to raise this matter. The instincts of the Opposition are to go along with him in his amendments, particularly that which proposes to delete "maintenance". The hon. Member also made the perfectly valid point about labour being brought from outside into an area where there is acute unemployment. That is something with which my hon. Friend...
Mr Gordon Oakes: We welcome the fact that the Government have tidied up the language. There was very reasonable criticism in Committee of the type of language used with regard to direct works organisations. It was unclear. The proposed language is clearer than the original wording, and for that we are very grateful. We have no intention, therefore, of opposing the clause. There is one thing that I should...
Mr Gordon Oakes: May I come to the defence of water authorities which, after all, are the creatures of a former Conservative Government and which were bitterly opposed by the Opposition? What do the Government intend to do for the North-West water authority, which faces the imminent collapse of its sewerage system over most of its area? Will the Government give any assistance to that authority rather than...
Mr Gordon Oakes: I join the tribute paid by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the Public Works Loan Commissioners. Having listened to the hon. Gentleman's introduction, I wonder why the order has been introduced at all. Perhaps the Financial Secretary will explain exactly what is proposed. At 1.30 a.m. we are proposing to increase by £3,000 million the amount of money that can be spent by the...
Mr Gordon Oakes: If the hon. Gentleman will read the order, he will see that what I say is correct. It raises the limits on the amount of money that can be expended by the Public Works Loan Board from £3,000 million to £6,000 million. I am the solitary hon. Member on this side of the House because the Opposition are not opposing the order. However, I should like the Financial Secretary to expand further his...
Mr Gordon Oakes: What is the Secretary of State's estimate of the number of Tory-controlled authorities with low levels of rate expenditure which will have to issue a supplementary rate in the autumn?
Mr Gordon Oakes: How many of those unfilled posts are among the legal staff of the right hon. Gentleman's Department? Will he fill those posts to prevent him from making ultra vires decisions, as he appears to have done under the New Towns Act in regard to Stevenage and the disposal of new town assets?
Mr Gordon Oakes: As the Government still do not have the slightest idea how to operate part VI of the Bill and no chance of getting agreement with local authority associations on that, will they drop the provision at least from the present Bill and negotiate further with local authorities until an acceptable scheme is produced?
Mr Gordon Oakes: We have had a full and varied discussion of this monster Bill. I use the word "monster" in every sense. It is monstrous in size and monstrous in its provisions. It is a Bill whose main provisions are bitterly and vigorously opposed by all three local government associations, all of them completely Conservative-controlled. It is opposed by individual authorities, of varied political...
Mr Gordon Oakes: We were overtaken by the election. We were anxious to allow direct works departments to compete properly. We did not want to tie their hands behind their backs in the way in which the Secretary of State proposes in clause 3. Maintenance should be excluded. We shall press that view in Committee. Apart from that, does the Secretary of State stick to the £50,000 figure without provision for...
Mr Gordon Oakes: They would not be prepared to do it.
Mr Gordon Oakes: On behalf of the Opposition, and, I think, of the whole House, may I say how grateful we are to the Minister and to the Government for providing time for this debate so soon after the publication of the report of the Royal Commission? This is rare, and I pay tribute to the Government for having provided what in this television-conscious age is called "prime time" so that we do not have to...
Mr Gordon Oakes: I do not think so. Part of the land policy of the Labour Government was to prevent that sort of change. Unfortunately, some of the Acts which we were engaged in passing may soon disappear. However, in this rare and happy atmosphere I do not want to be drawn into polemics of that kind. I join the Minister in paying tribute to agriculture for its enormous productivity. That is something that...
Mr Gordon Oakes: I readily accept what the hon. Gentleman says. Mass tourism can well be a pollutant. Again, it is a matter of achieving the right balance. The British people have the right to enjoy the British countryside without damaging it and without being a nuisance in it. As a former education Minister, I think that a considerable amount should be done in schools, especially in urban areas, to teach...