Mr Edward Fletcher: I put to my right hon. Friends on the Government Front Bench whether we ought to allow the City of London to accept money on very short-term rates. For instance, the Swiss banks have kept themselves out of the rates of interest war because they do not accept money on deposit unless it is left for 28 days. If someone withdraws a deposit before the 28 days are up he has to pay a penalty. But...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I hope that I shall not detain the House long, but many workers in my constituency are employed in the joinery trade and, in addition, a local firm of standing in the locality have asked me to make representations on this Order. The purpose of the Order appears primarily to be to increase the finances of the Furniture Industry Development Council and the effect would be that all built-in...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I am very pleased to have an opportunity even at this early hour of the morning to discuss a matter of vital importance to all those who are concerned with establishing good communications between Tees-side and other conurbations in this country and throughout the world. Teesside airport is situated about four miles from my constituency. It is, in fact, in the constituency of my hon. Friend...
Mr Edward Fletcher: The hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Crouch) is at least honest. He supports the Motion because he believes that the Order should not have been made and that the charges made by the laundries are reasonable. That view is in contradiction with the point of view put by some of his hon. Friends—that the Order discriminates because it applies to some sections of the industry and not to others....
Mr Edward Fletcher: One cannot generalise, but I make the point that most working class people have to do their washing at home or go to a laundrette, but, of course, in exceptional circumstances, when people are very old or ill, they have to send their washing to a laundry. By and large, it is affluent people, who used to employ what they called "washer women" on the cheap in days gone by, who send their...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I want, first, to congratulate the hon. Member for Cheadle (Dr. Winstanley) on overcoming the ordeal of his maiden speech. I had an idea of the type of speaker he was, because a few days ago I saw him in a television programme urging the masses to case their votes for the Liberal candidates in the municipal elections. I do not know whether that speech will prove to have been as persuasive as...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I will not accuse the hon. Member of blasphemy but will merely point out that the land does not belong to the Land Commission. The Commission is a vehicle being used to transfer land from one owner to another. It is quite wrong to make that sort of comparison. The Liberals, it seems, having inherited this great tradition of the fight against landlordism, have now reached the stage when they...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I cannot accept that this is nationalisation in the sense that the community is taking all land into national ownership. I am an old-type Socialist who believes in land nationalisation, and I would doubly welcome this Bill if it attempted to do that. Unfortunately it does not. It attempts to deal with the immediate problem of controlling a situation in which we are short of land for houses...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I referred to the fact that he made his statement when he was the Conservative Member for Buckingham. He may not have stood as a candidate again. Maybe his conscience decided that he should not do so, I do not know. We get a clear indication of the colossal profits made out of land speculation. If hon. Members opposite want to do something about this, we shall be interested to hear their...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I hope that the House will not think me impertinent for taking part in a debate concerning Short Bros. and Harland. The only thing which my constituency in County Durham has in common with Northern Ireland is a B.B.C. broadcasting wavelength. My interest stems from the fact that before coming to the House I was for many years an official of the Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union. Two...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I am well aware of that meeting. The hon. Member did not allow me to conclude my sentence. I was about to say that they were highly dissatisfied with the fact that the hon. Member and his colleagues have been Members in office for 13 years when unemployment in Northern Ireland has been very much in excess of the present 7 per cent. on many occasions. The hon. Member appears to be shaking his...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I, too, am interested in the next Bill on the Order Paper, and do not now propose to detain the House for very long. However, like other hon. Members, I have received many complaints from constituents about the activities of door-to-door salesmen. Although the Consumer Association has publicised these methods to a great extent, it is all to the good that we should discuss the subject in the...
Mr Edward Fletcher: The Bill, which I welcome, is the second major attempt of a Labour Government to lay the foundations for a practical and just land policy, and it has been well received by those who are qualified to know something about the intricacies of the land problem. Perhaps my best starting point may be the reference which the hon. Gentleman the Member for Windsor (Sir C. MottRadclyffe) has just made...
Mr Edward Fletcher: Would not my hon. Friend agree that it is not so much a question of cash but of the work being farmed out to private enterprise that could be done in railway workshops? This is borne out by the fact that, only three or four weeks before the Darlington closure was announced, a substantial order for diesel locomotives was given to a private enterprise firm. My right hon. Friend the Minister of...
Mr Edward Fletcher: On 19th September, 1962, it was announced that the Darlington Locomotive Works would be closed. At that time there were well over 3,000 workpeople employed in the locomotive workshops. They were engaged on an extensive programme of diesel locomotive building and the repair and maintenance of main line and shunting locomotives, as well as the maintenance and scrapping of all classes of steam...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I wonder whether the hon. Member for Barry (Mr. Gower) would make further observations on the question raised about the British Medical Association and the Law Society, which, of course, are compulsory trade unions? Is he attempting to suggest that some trade unions do not exist in which the members have, for instance, to pass an apprenticeship? Is there not an analogy between insistence on...
Mr Edward Fletcher: Could the hon. Gentleman give us instances of where this has happened?
Mr Edward Fletcher: As the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Hooson) has said, the intention of the Bill is to restore trade union law to what it was thought to be prior to the Rookes v. Barnard case. If the Amendment is carried it will, in effect, change the whole trade union climate that has existed since 1906. As a consequence, the trade union movement believes that it is restrictive and will...
Mr Edward Fletcher: I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster (Mr. Harold Walker) for curtailing his speech to allow me a few minutes to emphasise what he has said, particularly as I represent the railway town of Darlington. My hon. Friend referred to the historic connection between his workshops and Doncaster. Darlington goes back even further in history. For over a century we have had railway...
Mr Edward Fletcher: First, may I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (Mr. Blenkinsop) on his good fortune in securing time for a discussion on this subject and introducing it to the House. Secondly, may I congratulate my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary on the publication of the White Paper. It is more than a Report of good intentions. I believe it to be literature in the best sense. It is...