Mr John Wheatley: I remember that perfectly well and I remember that my hon. Friend, who was a member of that Committee, was a signatory to that Minority Report. I was hoping that if he were fortunate enough to catch your eye, Sir Charles, he might explain that at greater length. But it seems to be a race against time between people who have the interest of Scotland at heart and the Patronage Secretary. In...
Mr John Wheatley: I realise that the hon. Gentleman did not nod at that. We are not quite sure what nods mean on the other side of the Committee, and we are very apprehensive about them, but when he nods approval of the fact that the Act was working well in court—and without going to court, that it was having a desirable and salutary effect on solving the problem which exercises the minds of many people in...
Mr John Wheatley: The hon. Gentleman should at least try to understand what we are talking about.
Mr John Wheatley: What we are discussing is the question whether or not the Tenancy of Shops (Scotland) Act should form part of the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill or whether it should be made permanent legislation. This affects the livelihood of a large number of people in Scotland; all shopkeepers in Scotland are affected by it; and I am sorry that the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South (Sir W. Darling) is not...
Mr John Wheatley: I was suggesting that the hon. Gentleman can take one of two courses, either of which would be acceptable to us. Either he can give a preliminary reply immediately, followed by contributions from my hon. Friends and then a further reply—in that event, we could at least know the Government's mind before my hon. Friends make their contributions—or, if he prefers to wait and wind up at the...
Mr John Wheatley: The hon. Gentleman knows full well that this is one of the Parliamentary expedients of raising a question and is the only method by which this question can be raised. I pointed out that we employed that expedient because we think the Act should be extended.
Mr John Wheatley: No.
Mr John Wheatley: Before we pass from this Bill, I think we should consider the circumstances in which these Acts are being perpetuated for another year. Manifestly the expedient of continuing an Act from year to year by virtue of the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill is one which should only be resorted to in exceptional circumstances. One notes with a certain amount of apprehension that an Act as early as 1919...
Mr John Wheatley: I did not fully understand the contribution of the hon. Member for Dumfries (Mr. N. Macpherson) but, as obviously the hon. Gentleman did not understand it himself, he will not expect a reply from me. I rise to pose again some of the questions which the Minister has shirked. If ever there was a striking condemnation of the Government's policy of introducing the Guillotine, it is demonstrated...
Mr John Wheatley: It was a waste of time.
Mr John Wheatley: The right hon. Gentleman the Lord Privy Seal prefaced his remarks by saying that many of the arguments adduced in the course of this debate had been arguments directed against the conduct of Her Majesty's Government and Ministers, rather than against the conduct of the right hon. Gentleman the Chairman of Ways and Means. He then went on to make the claim that he had answered all these...
Mr John Wheatley: Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House whether there were any Amendments down to the remaining Acts in the Schedule, because, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, if there are no Amendments down to them, those Acts cannot be discussed in the Committee stage. Accordingly, if there was no Amendment down, there could be no discussion. Therefore, if the right hon. Gentleman is going to be...
Mr John Wheatley: I think enough has been said to indicate quite clearly that the arguments adduced by the right hon. Gentleman had no substance, no relevance and no bearing on the point. Accordingly, we came to consider a situation where it was contrary to all precedent—and even if there had been a precedent, it is rather strange that the right hon. Gentleman had to go back 50 years to find one, and then...
Mr John Wheatley: That was a welcome change from the tedious and repetitive speeches which we are accustomed to hear from the right hon. Gentleman when he gets up to move the Closure.
Mr John Wheatley: The right hon. Gentleman says that we shall hear them again. We are making an appeal for better leadership in this House in order that business can be effected in a manner consistent with Parliamentary tradition, and as soon as the Chief Whip is inveigled into an argument, all we can extract from him is that we shall hear these things again. The right hon. Gentleman will not find us...
Mr John Wheatley: It is within the recollection of the House. The right hon. and learned Gentleman purposely omitted that part of the Standing Order. He said that he was doing it; but at the end he came in with it. The point is that he put the emphasis in the wrong place, with respect, because he rather looked upon this as incidental to the invocation of the Order, whereas it is a condition precedent to the...
Mr John Wheatley: That is more than the Government are with the House of Commons.
Mr John Wheatley: Freedom to do what within the ambit of the Bill?
Mr John Wheatley: The hon. Gentleman has not said a thing yet.
Mr John Wheatley: The hon. Gentleman has been good enough to give us his party's idea of the composition of this body. Will he now proceed to give us his party's idea of the powers which the body will have in respect of the non-publicly owned sectors of the industry which will be in competition with the publicly owned sectors?