Mr George Isaacs: I wish to support the appeals made to the Minister to delete this subsection, particularly having regard to the point of view of justices dealing with these cases. If a man is brought before a court, and has to be punished for an offence, it is very hard if he has to be punished a second time and his livelihood taken from him for a year. These things may seem all right when they are examined...
Mr George Isaacs: Does it mean that on roads where there is now a speed limit of 30 miles an hour traffic will be able to travel at 40 miles an hour, or does it mean that unrestricted roads will have a speed limit imposed on them of 40 miles an hour?
Mr George Isaacs: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the question of this Committee's Report has been raised over the last three or four years with the Chancellor, and can the right hon. Gentleman give some hope of relief, not only to the class referred to by the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser), but to working people who are in receipt of pensions, having as much as 4s. or 5s. a week...
Mr George Isaacs: Can the Minister say whether the figures he has quoted in referring to wages were of wage rates or actual earnings made up by extra hours worked?
Mr George Isaacs: Can the Minister answer this question? A woman in receipt of pension marries, and then her marriage is annulled. She is not divorced: her marriage is annulled. Does that bring her into the position she was in before, or does the fact that she was married cause her to lose her pension completely?
Mr George Isaacs: Would I be correct in suggesting that one advantage of Remploy which is not always appreciated is that it demonstrates that disabled men can be made into useful workers, which has made it easier for the disabled resettlement officers to get employers to take such men into their employment? That is shown by the recent success in getting men into ordinary employment who would otherwise have...
Mr George Isaacs: asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if, in order to provide this House with factual and up-to-date information regarding the adequacy of the present rate of payment to meet the needs of aged pensioners, he will direct his local offices to undertake visits to an agreed percentage of aged pensioners in their respective localities to collect details of expenditure upon...
Mr George Isaacs: As the Minister continually criticises the cases brought from this side of the House, will not he agree that it would be much more satisfactory to the House if an official investigation were made, because my information about cases that have come before me from the borough which I have the privilege to represent in this House shows that very considerable suffering and hardship exists among...
Mr George Isaacs: The House has listened to one of our new colleagues, the hon. Member for Burton (Mr. Jennings), speaking for the first time, and we can well understand his feelings. He has admitted that he has been told to avoid controversy, and he has certainly taken good notice of that advice. I would liken the hon. Member to a swimmer who has approached a strange stream for the first time. He says to...
Mr George Isaacs: Is the Minister aware that, although the figure is higher than it may have been before, it is still lamentably low compared with what it has to purchase, and that even if old-age people go to the National Assistance Board and get the maximum which the Board can give them, it is still not enough to keep them decently and in comfort?
Mr George Isaacs: The reason then was that the Army could not take the men who had been provided for them. They did not want them.
Mr George Isaacs: Does the hon. Member suggest that the general public should also have a secret ballot to say whether the workmen should strike?
Mr George Isaacs: That is why we have strikes.
Mr George Isaacs: Can the hon. Gentleman tell the House of any organisations outside the dock trades where they have a ballot decided by "mob oratory" and a show of hands? Does he know how these things happen in the ordinary trade union?
Mr George Isaacs: Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether a mink coat comes under the heading of protective clothing?
Mr George Isaacs: Would the Prime Minister read those words again?
Mr George Isaacs: Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman can help me. I understand that somewhere in the broadcast—I did not hear it myself—were the words, "but work must begin again." Perhaps we can get this in its right context.
Mr George Isaacs: I think we must ask the Minister to make this a little clearer. In his statement he refers to the single basic pension and gives the 1952 rate as 50s., rising to 60s., but when he refers to the two parents together he does not give the 1952 rates but says that the basic standard will in future be 90s. compared with 60s. in 1946. That makes it look as though there is an addition of 30s. We...
Mr George Isaacs: Is the hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that in many of these cases there has been no inquiry at all? Is he further aware that a case has been brought to my notice where a mother had a pension of £1 a week; she and her husband now enjoy an increase in old-age pension of 7s. 6d. a week each, and the other pension is now cut down to 5s.? In other words, the Government give the couple 7s. 6d....
Mr George Isaacs: I feel that I should apologise to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government for keeping him here this evening after a long and tiring day on the Front Bench opposite. I keep him here because I must draw attention to the insufferable nuisance imposed upon people in my constituency who live in the area where the Bankside Power Station is located. When the old...
