Mr Ivor Richard: I am concerned, as I have been ever since I entered politics, at the honesty of the Conservative Party's claim. Unlike some hon. Gentlemen opposite, I read the Conservative Party's Manifesto at election times. The hon. Member for Brighouse and Spenborough said that he never read the manifesto, nor did he think that anybody else did. He said that he had it available in the office should...
Mr Ivor Richard: I am glad that the hon. Gentleman and I read everything that is put out officially at election time. When one looks at what the Conservative Party said in its manifesto about commercial radio and compare it with what the right hon. Gentleman claimed for it in those early, far-off halcyon days when he first came in flushed with the enthusiasm of his new-found office about reinvigorating local...
Mr Ivor Richard: I am not sure whether I understand the last three sentences which the right hon. Gentleman read on subsection (3). Is the position that if a newspaper has a circulation which is a substantial proportion of the population of the locality, prima facie it is to have the right to buy in unless the Authority is satisfied that the broadcasting of the programmes would be unlikely to have a...
Mr Ivor Richard: This is becoming increasingly important having regard to the range of transmission which it appears that these stations are now to have. It one is to have one station for the whole of London, for instance, with a very large number of newspapers included in the locality which will be affected by that one station, on the face of it one will have a very large number of relatively small...
Mr Ivor Richard: With respect to the Minister. I am not wrong. He is saying that the small newspaper will not have the right to buy in unless it can prove that it is adversely affected. That is what he has just said. A large newspaper will have the right to buy in automatically provided it has a substantial circulation in the area unless, in the Authority's opinion, it is not adversely affected. What is the...
Mr Ivor Richard: That is still true.
Mr Ivor Richard: After the Minister's speech—perhaps I should refer to him as the ex-Minister—it might be appropriate for me to say something about these two new Clauses. First, I congratulate the hon. and learned Gentleman on his translation, if that be the right word. I also congratulate the hon. Gentleman who is succeeding him in assuming the mantle of responsibility for posts and telecommunications...
Mr Ivor Richard: The hon. Gentleman merely restates the proposition which I am about to prove to everybody's satisfaction. He did so in a different but no less effective way and one which found just as little approval from his own Front Bench. Initially there are to be five stations, two in London and one each in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham. The hon. Member for Hendon, North (Mr. Gorst) gave us in...
Mr Ivor Richard: One thing I did not say was that the Evening Standardshould have the automatic right of entry into B.B.C. Radio London. The Minister talks of the plan. What is the time-scale? In the immediate future there will be not 60 commercial stations but five, with possibly another four and then possibly another 10. We are therefore talking about a time-scale of six to eight years. By the time we get...
Mr Ivor Richard: No. What I say is that there is no sense in putting responsibility in exactly the opposite direction. There is no justification for saying that all the Evening Standard has to do is to show that it has a substantial circulation and it will get the right of entry, whereas a smaller newspaper does not get a right of entry unless it can show that it is adversely affected. Even on the right...
Mr Ivor Richard: The hon. Lady proves my case. What she is saying is that local newspapers do not need protection—
Mr Ivor Richard: With respect, that is exactly what the hon. Lady said, and I suspect by the look on her face that she knows she said it. She said that the little newspaper is unlikely to be affected by a commercial radio station like Radio London because the sort of advertising it carries is different from the sort of advertising carried by Radio London. Therefore I say to the hon. Lady, why protect? Why...
Mr Ivor Richard: Mr. Richard It is obviously not a gravy bowl but a blood bowl. The Bill provides a transfusion. The position is no different now from what it was when we discussed the Bill in Committee. If anything it is slightly worse.
Mr Ivor Richard: I follow the point which the hon. Gentleman puts with his customary clarity and accuracy.
Mr Ivor Richard: The right hon. Gentleman is right, subsection (2) refers to— …any newspaper which circulates wholly or mainly in that locality… If therefore one had, as one has in London, regional newspapers which circulate mainly in the locality, and in other parts of the country there are regional papers circulating mainly in the locality, they would clearly be covered by the Clause—not the Daily...
Mr Ivor Richard: The hon. Gentleman will know from studying the Bill that in Committee subsections (5) and (6) of Clause 2 were added. Subsection (6) provides that …in respect of the news content of the programmes broadcast… the Authority shall …ensure that the collection and preparation of such news broadcasts is independent and…shall require— (a) that the collection and preparation of news is...
Mr Ivor Richard: I should, of course, have said "Rotherham with Sheffield".
Mr Ivor Richard: May I be referred to the date in Committee?
Mr Ivor Richard: As the right hon. Gentleman has said, this fulfils an undertaking he gave in Committee. Although the Clause is of almost Proustian complexity, it seems on the whole to fulfil at least the intent behind the assurance. Therefore, on behalf of the Opposition I welcome it and thank the Minister for it.
Mr Ivor Richard: I have considerable sympathy with the points which my hon. Friend has just made, particularly about the naming of the unsuccessful applicants for a contract. I should have thought this was the point the Minister could understand, seriously consider and, if necessary, insert in another place. It would be somewhat churlish if we on this side of the House were not to recognise that the Minister...
