BY OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT THE Transport Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons
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on Monday by a majority of 39 votes. Mr. Lennox-Boyd, Minister of Transport, declared that the disturbance to transport caused by denationalization would not be as great as that occasioned by nationali. ration. He continued silent on the question of altering the incidence of the levy.
Socialist spokesmen reiterated the threat to renationalize toad transport when the Labour Party again came into Power.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd spoke of Scottish transport and said he had had further talks with the Secretary of State for Scotland about the best way to fashion the new co-ordinating machinery, and the best method of deciding the functions to be entrusted to the new body.
It was the Government's view, he said, that the body might well be called the Scottish Transport Council, and it would probably be preferable that the chairman of the Scottish Transport Users Consultathie Committee should be a member of this body, rather than its chairman.
New Co-ordinating Body The body should be representative of all publicly owned transport in Scotland, whether road, rail, sea or air. He proposed that British European Airways and the Advisory Council should be represented on the new co-ordinating body. There would be independent members as well. There would be the Scottish Transport Users Consultative Committee, designed to protect the interests of the consuming public in the sphere of the British Transport Commission's activities, and the Scottish Transport Council to cover the whole field of publicly owned transport.
The Government believed that this new machinery would bring together at a high level all the various publicly owned services in Scotland. It was reasonable to expect that through better co-ordination there would be greater efficiency and closer identification of the interests of the travelling public with those who provided services.
There had been some anxiety as to the constitution of the railway authority that would exercise delegated powers in Scotland. He gave the assurance that the Minister would be most unlikely to accept as satisfactory a scheme which confined all authority in Scotland to one individual.
Speaking of the period of transition, he said he thought that fears were exaggerated. There was no reason to expect disturbance even as great as that which took place when thousands of private hauliers were compulsorily acquired.
The Government proposed to introduce in the House of Lords important amendments dealing with the provision of a company structure for a limited part of the Road Haulage Executive's fleet. "I hope this will give a measure of confidence to those who are still disturbed about the transition period, and perhaps a measure of reassurance to the men and women in the industry," he said.
He was pleased that it had been possible to fix a definite date for dropping the 25-mile limit, which had brought hardship and inconvenience to thousands. The Government could not abolish it immediately, but he was glad that it would be lifted at the end of 1954.
The Minister corrected an earlier statement giving the impression that it would be impossible for C-licensees to buy transport units merely for the purpose of increasing their own fleets. To do so, however, would be "a singularly expensive procedure."
Mr. Callaghan (Lab.), said that a great many of the worst features of the Bill which had not been removed would have been exposed more clearly had it not been for the guillotine. Public opinion had compelled the Minister to modify his original proposals, but he had not explained what his new conception was of the methods of disposal, and what the pattern of road haulage was to be after its sale.
B.R.S. Scheduled Services
British Road Services were operating 702 scheduled services giving 24-hour delivery. They were operating to and from 368 terminal depots with local arrangements for collection and delivery. Each depot had handled an -.verage of 34,000 tons of traffic. This was a national network and the Minister was intending to destroy it. There was to be all-out war between road and rail.
Mr. Callaghan thanked the R.H.E.'s workers. "Their experience will be
needed again," he said. This is just a temporary setback. This whole process will have to be gone through again."
If the railways were to be set free to compete with road haulage, they should have a much greater allocation of capital investment. They could not be expected to compete with on hand tied behind their backs.
Mr. Woodburn (Lab.) asked what were to be the powers, if any, of the Scottish Transport Council? Scottish