Mr George Thomson: I am conscious that this is probably one of the last speeches that I shall make on behalf of the city of Dundee, which I have had the honour to represent for nearly 20 years. I remember that one of the first speeches that I made in the House on behalf of Dundee was on the Consolidated Fund Bill at about one o'clock in the morning when the House otherwise consisted of only the Leader of the...
Mr George Thomson: Mr. George Thomson (Dundee, East) indicated dissent.
Mr George Thomson: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his warm welcoe to my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Cheetham (Mr. Harold Lever) and myself to the debates. Our absence from them was due, as is, I think, generally recognised, to our enforced silence until this moment. My hon. Friend has said that he was charged with a certain duty by the leader of the party and by the party generally. As we...
Mr George Thomson: I think the Committee will recognise that the reason why this is my maiden speech in the proceedings on this Bill is not any lack of inclination to speak in the earlier proceedings. Indeed, there were many times when I would have wished to speak, and I would like to assure my right hon. Friends on the Front Bench that I have followed with intense interest, and an intense self-interest, the...
Mr George Thomson: I am sorry if what was intended as an innocent and mild remark should provoke my hon. Friend because I was hoping to go on to explain why I have taken the course of action I have on the Bill. I do not expect to carry him with me, but I expect him to accept the sincerity of my beliefs on this matter as I accept his. I mentioned my voting record to seek to convince him and my other hon. Friends...
Mr George Thomson: I do not know why my hon. Friend puts this question with such force. The answer is surely perfectly straightforward. If there were a General Election on this issue I would fight it in my constituency, explaining the policy of the Labour Party on this, which is that it is in favour of entry in principle but that it objects to the present terms. I would add my own view, which I have put again...
Mr George Thomson: I said that the Common Market will be a small part of it, but the main part will be the domestic issues. A General Election can be forced by an Opposition under our parliamentary system in only one of two ways—by winning sufficient by-elections or by such a genuine shift of conviction within the House of Commons that the Government's majority disappears. The Common Market does not fit...
Mr George Thomson: I do not think my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone (Mr. John Mendelson) has been following my argument with his customary attention. I shall be happy to join him in the Lobby tonight on the General Election issue. I am simply trying to clarify why I shall be there with him. I was not trying to isolate my right hon. Friend the Member for Stepney. I referred to him because he opened the...
Mr George Thomson: My hon. Friend the Member for Penistone say "Settle it in a General Election". I have already explained that I am voting with him tonight for a General Election.
Mr George Thomson: My hon. Friend is wrong. It would not be the same in a General Election. In a General Election, one would not have the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party campaigning against each other on television; one would not have the Labour candidate for Dundee, East campaigning against his constituency Labour Party. That is a recipe for disaster and division in the party. I fully accept that...
Mr George Thomson: I shall deal with this point if my hon. Friend will have patience. I agree that the referendum is also used by decent democracies in various part of the world. But there it has invariably been a brake on progress. The experience of Mr. Chifley's Government in Australia should interest my hon. Friends. The referendum in Australia after the war was used as a major obstacle to nationalisation...
Mr George Thomson: I think I must take my hon. Friend the Member for Ilkeston (Mr. Raymond Fletcher) with me next time I go to Switzerland. He will find that the referendum there has been an obstacle to social progress. It has taken several generations to persuade the men of Switzerland through the referendum instrument to concede votes for women. When I visited there as a member of the Labour Government in...
Mr George Thomson: I at least hoped to retain the respect of my hon. Friend in opposing something on principle which might be of political advantage to me. If the Amendment were carried, it would not mean a General Election. The last opinion polls I saw showed 45 per cent. approving entry and 39 per cent. disapproving. The age breakdown was interesting. In the age group 25 to 44, those in favour totalled 54 per...
Mr George Thomson: The poll was carried out by Social and Community Planning Research. The questions were: Whether you approved greatly or less greatly, whether you disapproved greatly or less greatly. I have lumped the two categories for the purposes of simplicity. I would be happy to give the hon. Member full details. The hon. Member has behind him the poll in the Sunday Express, the National Opinion Poll, I...
Mr George Thomson: To my hon. Friend.
Mr George Thomson: My hon. Friend is basically right, but he engages in his well-known characteristic of understatement. The actual figures were that 58 per cent. did not know and 10 per cent. gave the wrong answer. My impression, leaving aside the opinion polls and sticking to the hunch of a simple politician, is that most people emerged from the great debate last autumn feeling that this was precisely the...
Mr George Thomson: I am sorry my hon. Friend does not like to hear my views. I have been patient and listened to those of my hon. Friends. We should not join with these people in looking nostalgically over our shoulders to a view of the past with which we have little in common. It was for these reasons that I felt bound to come here and say what I have said, and it is for these reasons that I shall join my hon....
Mr George Thomson: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that we on this side of the House are getting a little tired of remarks from the benches opposite about the views of my right hon. and hon. Friends? There is every sign that the Government are trying to cover up the divisions in their own party over Irish policy by attacking my right hon. and hon. Friends. Is the hon. Gentleman aware, further, that the Government's...
Mr George Thomson: Hear, hear.
Mr George Thomson: While I very much welcome the principle of the announcement, I would not have been quite so hearty in my "Hear, hear" had I realised that it was to be a team as small as nine people. I hope that this is only the beginning and that we shall measure up to the magnitude of the challenge, since we have very great joint economic interests, not least in my own constituency of Dundee.
