Mr Ronald Murray: That is very helpful to me. I had not been aware of that.
Mr Ronald Murray: The hon. Gentleman has been very kind in his tribute. However, he does not need to say anything more if he does not want to.
Mr Ronald Murray: At the outset, I would like to make it clear that the Bill—the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, East (Mr. Henderson) was generous in his tribute—regularises completely the substantive rights of tenants-at-will. The issue that arises in respect of these amendments is a peripheral or side issue as to the expenditure involved in achieving that regularisation. One must be absolutely clear about...
Mr Ronald Murray: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made clear—and I think other hon. Members have taken the point—the object of the Bill is not to cure all ills created by the present stoppage in the courts. It is restricted, firstly, to preserving rights which would otherwise be irretrievably lost. Secondly, the Bill is aimed at continuing some functions of the courts to deal with matters...
Mr Ronald Murray: I shall not give way at this stage.
Mr Ronald Murray: Very well.
Mr Ronald Murray: I regret giving way to the hon. and learned Gentleman, because the matter is perfectly clear. [HON. MEMBERS:"It is not."] It is perfectly clear. The responsibility for policy decisions is that of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, and he made that absolutely clear. He said that he accepted that the responsibility of deciding whether extra personnel should be brought in to do the...
Mr Ronald Murray: No, I shall not give way. The matter is clear beyond a doubt. After all, we are dealing with a specific amendment which the Opposition have tabled. There seems to me to be very little purpose in dealing now with the substance and merit of an amendment which is tabled relating specifically to this point—
Mr Ronald Murray: If this is to be a brief intervention I shall give way.
Mr Ronald Murray: That is a power that the Bill clearly confers, and if a judge cares to use it he can do so. Let me repeat what I have said, absolutely clearly and without any ambiguity. The responsibility for making any decision of policy rests firmly with the Secretary of State, and he said that. The last word that I can say on the matter at this stage is that it would be wrong for the Government to impose...
Mr Ronald Murray: I do not think that it would serve any useful purpose if I gave way again. I have many specific matters to answer, and I think that I should try to deal with some of them. I am not for one moment suggesting that the points that have been put to the Government should not be answered this evening. They certainly will be. I am merely saying that if I attempt to answer all the points I shall be...
Mr Ronald Murray: I think that the hon. Gentleman has clarified the matter to some extent. Certainly the Government's position—
Mr Ronald Murray: Then I withdraw that, because, quite frankly, I do not think that these interventions help to clarify the matter at all. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Taylor) was saying at the end of his intervention that this matter was the subject of a specific amendment. I entirely agree with him. It seems to me that the effect of his intervention was simply to prove that this matter would...
Mr Ronald Murray: Of course it does not say that, because an Act of Parliament does not say what a Government's policy is. Acts of Parliament are legislative powers conferred on people in certain circumstances. For example, nothing needs to be said in an emergency Bill of this kind about ministerial powers.
Mr Ronald Murray: I shall not give way any further on this point.
Mr Ronald Murray: I am not prepared to give way on this point.
Mr Ronald Murray: The hon. Member for Edinburgh, West raised a number of other points. The next point that I can properly take up is the time limit of one month which is mentioned in clause 1. clause 1. Perhaps the clearest way to deal with this is to point out that the time limit of one month, which first appears in clause 1(1), is related to the time which is covered by the emergency period. The provision...
Mr Ronald Murray: I think that capital transfer tax is a different matter. The hon. Gentleman specifically asked for repayments of capital transfer tax to people who are unable to get confirmation. That was what he put to me. My information is that Inland Revenue will be issuing a press notice dealing with certain points on capital transfer tax, including the point that the hon. Gentleman has just put to me....
Mr Ronald Murray: —these are indeed legal points—and that trade unions must really be unlawful.
Mr Ronald Murray: Well, I heard what I heard. The hon. and learned Gentleman seemed to imply that trade unions are unlawful because in some sense they are an expression of collective rather than individual opinion. If that is not what he meant, I am happy to accept that, but the contradiction was certainly apparent to some of us. If that is not what he intended to imply, I am happy to accept that and to pass...
