Mr Ernest Roberts: Would not my right hon. Friend agree with my experience, as a national trade union leader in engineering, that changes are needed in the Act to compel employers to do what the House intended the Act should do — give equal pay for work of equal value to the women of Britain?
Mr Ernest Roberts: Unlike the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Mr. Nicholls), who has been engaged in and has referred to rhetoric and theories about pensioners and their problems, I shall speak from experience. Two years before coming to the House I was already retired on a pension and in receipt of a small addition from my previous employer. It was no life of luxury. Pensioners are much worse off than I was...
Mr Ernest Roberts: That is right—it lines their pockets. These old people are being driven into the lunatic asylum as a result of the living conditions being imposed on them by the Tory Government. As with many pensioners, I have worked for 50 years. Pensioners have produced more wealth in their lifetimes than they could ever consume, yet they eke out their existence in poverty. Is that right? Where is the...
Mr Ernest Roberts: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the advice given by his Department to British business men and tourists visiting each of the Arab states concerning local regulations and religious restrictions.
Mr Ernest Roberts: What representations has the Foreign Secretary made to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states about their refusal last year to allow British subjects to celebrate Christmas? What representations is he making about the rights of British citizens to celebrate Christmas this year?
Mr Ernest Roberts: I want to deal with one subject only—the problem of policing in London. The police are supposed to be accountable to the House through the Home Secretary. What I have shows that the police are not making themselves accountable to the democratically elected representatives of the people. The Commissioner, in his report, which has been dealt with in the press, referred to a campaign of...
Mr Ernest Roberts: I shall come to that in a moment. I am dealing with what could lead to a solution to these problems. I met three police commanders, the deputy assistant commissioner, representatives of Islington, Haringey and Hackney councils and several community representatives to discuss the problems in Finsbury Park. A number of unemployed black youths had been arrested. Their club had been closed. They...
Mr Ernest Roberts: I wish to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, South (Mr. Marshall) for introducing this Bill, which deals with an urgent, distressing and disastrous problem for many people who are existing in multi—occupied properties. I think not of the Hilton or huge luxury blocks of flats, but of the slummy blocks of dwellings in areas such as Hackney. I spent time with the Minister in the...
Mr Ernest Roberts: I wish to express the anger of my constituents in Hackney. When the Prime Minister answered questions on unemployment in the House yesterday, she alleged that the workers were both lazy and greedy, were not producing enough and wanted too high wages. The Prime Minister held them responsible for Britain's economic crisis. They, of course, include the 4 million unemployed—men, women and...
Mr Ernest Roberts: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. This is no criticism of you, but on an earlier occasion I sat here for eight hours and was not called, and today I have been in the Chamber since the beginning of the debate. Members on both sides have hogged the time available and have taken no note of the fact that many hon. Members wish to speak. Indeed, some have spoken several times on the same...
Mr Ernest Roberts: I speak on behalf of the citizens of Hackney who will be affected by this development. I shall oppose the Bill unless there is an agreement to provide a high-level platform at Liverpool Street station. In spite of the excellent development that will take place in the Liverpool Street area as a result of the general scheme, there will be too much hardship if it goes ahead without that...
Mr Ernest Roberts: That is not true.
Mr Ernest Roberts: The threatened rail strike is only one of many strikes which have been discussed in the House since this Government were elected, and it has some relevance to the statement made by the Prime Minister on the day following her election. In Conservative News, the headline was "My Troops are Ready." There has been a constant battle between the Government and the trade union movement. We have seen...
Mr Ernest Roberts: I remind the hon. Gentleman that during the same period, although some 14 million working days were lost as a result of strike action, nearly 4 million yews of production have been lost as a result of the unemployment caused by this Government. That is the real relationship. That unemployment is the result of the policies being pursued by the Government. If the threatened rail strike is not...
Mr Ernest Roberts: Unfortunately, Law Lords have voles. They have political opinions and they express those opinions in a variety of ways. Very rarely do they support the Labour cause and the point of view of trade unionists. Government supporters ask where the money is to come from. There is no shortage of money. We spend £14,000 million on Trident. We spend £600 million on the EEC. There is plenty of...
Mr Ernest Roberts: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the problems facing the travelling public in London arise directly from the overturning of the "Fares Fair" policy of the GLC, which has now crippled transport in London, as predicted?
Mr Ernest Roberts: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. You have called no one from the East End of London. You have called no one from Hackney, where there is a serious problem. I have been here since 3 o'clock. This is not the first time that I have sat in the House for seven and eight hours and not been called to speak. What do we have to join before we can speak on behalf of those who elected us?
Mr Ernest Roberts: This is not the first time, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr Ernest Roberts: The Opposition have called for this debate because of the criminal negligence and indifference of the Government to the housing problems that face ordinary people, certainly those who live in the East End of London and in the sort of constituency that I represent. The right to a home of one's own, like the right to work or the right to health, is a fundamental human right. There are two...
Mr Ernest Roberts: We have proved this afternoon that the Government's policies are responsible for increasing poverty. In an excellently researched book, Professor Townsend recently pointed out that 26 per cent. of our population—about 14 million people—could be said to be living in poverty. Hackney bears out what Professor Townsend said and what we have said. The Government are responsible for increasing...