Mr. Mulley states his priorities
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• Mr. Mulley, the new Transport Minister, put the best possible face on the lowered status of his department when he gave his first press conference on Tuesday.
"Naturally I would prefer to be in the Cabinet—any Minister would," he said. "On the other hand I take on all the statutory functions of my predecessor and intend to exercise them. There is no question of the Ministry being merged in the sense that we are shedding responsibilities or functions.
"I shall have the advantage of consulting Mr. Crosland (the new 'overlord' of the combined department] on major issues in the field of regional planning."
Mr Mulley thought that the placing of transport under the same umbrella as housing and planning would facilitate the process of consultation which had always taken place between the two Ministries. He promised that when transport issues came before the Cabinet he would see to it that a "proper and full case" was put.
Having had only 24 hours to read himself into his new department, Mr. Mulley was unable to give more than very general answers to a number of questions put to him about the road transport industry.
On tachographs he rested on the line taken by his predecessor, Mr. Marsh; the matter was still being considered. He took the same line on the question of a possible increase in the permitted weights of lorries. It would clearly have economic advantages if it assisted the movement of container loads. But an official at his side intervened to warn that a decision might take a "considerable time".
Mr Mulley was also non-committal when asked about the difficulties experienced by some haulage contractors in getting planning permission to build new depots and workshops to maintain standards which the Ministry had laid down. He did not think the new arrangements would necessarily alter the situation, but undertook that his Ministry would do all it could to assist applicants in individual problem cases.
'We are not going to run away from saying that vehicles must be well maintained," he promised.
He saw as his first major task the maintenance of the target dates for roads completions and the piloting through Parliament of the Bill to nationalize the major ports.