14r. Crossman reveals that Nillotine date was fixed
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The date when the "guillotine" will end ommittee discussions of the Transport Bill— lay 15—was decided "some time ago". This was revealed by Mr. Richard Crossman, te Leader of the Commons during the debate hich imposed a timetable on the Bill.
Stating that he was going to reveal a secret, Ir. Crossman said that "some time ago" he and Irs. Castle concluded that the Bill would have be through Committee by May 15. They had, said, come to that conclusion some time before le decision on the timetable was announced— Ming that the discussion had been in the light f the date at which the Bill started in 'ommittee—January 23.
The House approved the Government's metable—which gives three days to discussion Fter the Committee stage—after nearly 13 ours of debate.
The noisy debate—in which the Speaker Nuently had to call for order—was marked by arsh words from both sides of the House, and le tension was heightened by the Chancellor's nnouncement about the gold crisis, which came any in the morning, and the rumours of Mr. ieorge Brown's resignation.
Proceedings were nearly cut short without fly decision being reached when the normal our for ending discussion passed without any xtension being sought. Tory MPs demanded tat the debate should end there and then, but teir leader Mr. Edward Heath agreed that the lotion extending the debate should be put, ven though the time for doing so had passed. Opening the debate, Mr. Crossman said the ill contained a few genuinely miscellaneous items 'hose removal would not significantly alter the metable. But with these small exceptions it 'as the closely integrated product of the most lorough review of the whole range of transport olicy ever presented to Parliament.
Tory members of the Committee had been oing their duty by creating a situation in which ley hoped the Government would drop the Bill, aid Mr. Crossman. But he had a suspicion hey were not unduly surprised to find that the lovemment had decided not to drop the Bill, .ut to ask for an allocation of time powers. Under the Government's timetable more time would be devoted to the Bill in Committee than to any other Bill in the history of the British Parliament. Mrs. Castle had offered a voluntary timetable, but the Tory reply was nothing short of frivolous.
Tory Transport spokesman Mr. Peter Walker said there was no precedent in Parliamentary history of a Bill of anything approaching this size-10 major bills in one—going to Committee as late as January 23. He was willing to agree to a voluntary timetable whereby the whole of the Bill could be discussed and end its Committee stage by the end of June. He realized this would mean long hours and many days, and the Tories would have been perfectly willing to have given up a complete week of the Whitsun Recess to go through the various parts of the Bill.
When Mrs. Castle rejected his offer he had suggested that parts of the Bill could be dropped so that the major part could be completed by May.
The clauses he had submitted were not controversial ones, but miscellaneous provisions. They included the quantity licensing system because the Minister had said she had no intention of using it until the Freightliner system had been completed, and this would not happen for two years.
The Government could then put forward a separate licensing Bill next session if the Minister wanted these very bad and ridiculous proposals to come forward in the time required.
The only speech which could not have been safely predicted came from Mr. Clifford Kenyon, the Labour Member for Chorley, and chairman of the Committee which selects the MPs who discuss a Bill during the Committee stage.
He charged the Government with having made a blunder—and said that it would be far better to cut the Bill and introduce it in separate parts, so affording free discussion of every part and every clause.
The Chancellor's Budget statement—revealing that haulage charges had been dropped— threw out the timetable for the Transport Bill, which was presented to the Commons Standing Committee this week. Five of the 19 Committee meetings yet to be held were to have been devoted to the extra-charges clauses.