and further than that—that the mismanagement of these banks, by leading on to their ultimate failure, most materially aggravated and precipitated a National Crisis such as that we had just passed through.

Whatever may be alleged as to the past, never let it be said that at a moment of Great National Crisis we are divided; but on the contrary that upon an emergency of such an importance, we can merge our differences and become united when we think 1181 that such a union will tend to promote the public good.

He had not alluded to the Royal Naval Reserve in calculating the number of blue-jackets who would be available in a Great National Crisis, for while he thought the Reserve was a very useful force at the time when it was started, and that, considering the then state of artillery and ships of war, no more efficient force could have been obtained by the same expenditure of time or money, the case was very different now.

I think that the House ought to know whether, in This Grave National Crisis, we stand or not in a position of isolation.

Firmness at a Great National Crisis was often the harbinger of peace; discord—and more especially House of Commons' discord—might be the sure forerunner of war.

If his vote, therefore, should be given for the Government, it would not be because he approved of this Convention, or of the action of the Government in regard to it, but because he shrank from helping to turn them out at a Great National Crisis; and he believed that was also the feeling of the great majority of those who, like himself, would vote not for the Convention, but for the Government.

but some of those hon. Members are very young men indeed—men whose age many of us who have been returned from the Sister Island envy exceedingly, seeing them so early in political life; and the day may come when these Members will be Irish Ministers; and it will be diffi- 93 cult to blame them if, some 30 years hence, they should do their best to get rid of a payment to the British Exchequer that they considered to be monstrous and extortionate because a long while ago, in a Great National Crisis, they were silent parties, perhaps, to accepting that bargain.

but they must be aware—and in this he perfectly agreed with the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland (Mr. John Morley)—that they were in the presence of a Great National Crisis.

His son is also portrayed as a Member of this House; and in one of the scenes between the father and son, in a Great National Crisis, the son, having scruples about voting against the dictates of his conscience, is thus advised by the father— "You are very young in these matters, and experience will convince you that every man in public business has two consciences—a religious and a political conscience".

On one occasion when the Executive Government took a similar grave step—not graver than this, but as grave—these words were used by the head of the Government— "We are the Executive Government, and we are entitled and are bound to claim a hearty and cordial support in a Great National Crisis for the vindication of the law of the land".

we know that it does not interefere with the power of the Crown in a Great National Crisis, without the assent of Parliament, to pass Treaties which may involve far greater cessions than that of Heligoland; and we do not object, but rejoice in the fact that if this precedent has been set it will not be in the power of any Government to come, in a period of profound peace, to manipulate the territories of the British Empire without asking the assent of the British Parliament.

There is to be no difficulty in a time of profound peace, but only in case of a National Crisis.

or what is to happen if a Great National Crisis should arise, and more money is wanted for national or Imperial defence?

To say that even that is a satisfactory way to meet a National Crisis or emergency is folly.

They are now an organised part of our military system, they have their proportionate place in Any Great National Crisis, and we have to bring discipline to bear upon them in a manner which was not the case in days gone by.

National Crisis, Inadequate Military Proposals—Strengthening the Navy, etc.

The result is that the consumer of tobacco at a time of National Crisis will be able to smoke his pipe at the same price as in 1898 in a time of peace.

In February last my noble friend Lord Rosebery, defending a motion designed to make the Ballot Bill workable, said, in almost passionate language, that he considered that we were in a National Crisis, or used words to that effect.

Many of them are very young men who have given up good prospects in business and professions simply for the love of their country and a desire to do their duty in a Great National Crisis.

In the event of a Great National Crisis arising, such as did arise in the winter of 1899, his notion was that it was the duty of a great shipowner not to take advantage of that crisis in order to put up his freights.

SIR ELLIOTT LEES (Birkenhead) said there had been a great many experiments made upon the Army during the last few years, and there would probably be a good many more in the course of the next few years, but he thought the Empire could not be in a better state a regarded military security, for such experiments to be made, inasmuch as it had within its borders a force of some 400,00 men of military age who had been trained to modern warfare under modern conditions, and upon most of whom the Empire could rely in case of a National Crisis.

National Crisis, Times of, Advantages of Military Training in.

And I can quite believe that at a time of National Crisis it might be a very serious disability for a distinguished Member of the Judicature who, perhaps, had taken an active part in public life, to be prevented from declaring views which he might hold very strongly as to the course that ought to be taken for the national safety and the national honour.

And you ought not, and it is unwise, to introduce these schemes of social revolution, which cannot produce money, and obviously will not produce money, into a Bill avowedly brought forward on a scale of magnitude and with a glory of exposition as if a Great National Crisis was being met in a bold spirit.

For myself I believe that in a time of National Crisis we shall want a much larger permanent staff of workmen in the Royal dockyards than it is possible to maintain under existing circumstances.

It is a measure which was proposed again and acquiesced in by the Sovereign at the time of the first Reform Bill, under circumstances of extreme pressure, and when a Grave National Crisis existed—a crisis which is not comparable to anything with which we have to deal.

I should like the House to consider this fall in the price of Consols, taken in regard to the possibility of a National Crisis, and the possibility of the Government having to go into the market and borrow a very large sum of money.

There was built in that factory a new aeroplane about which there was some discussion some months ago, and which has turned out a complete success; but I hope he will not adopt the policy of having machines built only in this factory, but that he will follow the sounder policy which has been adopted in France of giving some encouragement to manufacturers who are building these machines, so that we may have a large number of independent factories available for the production of these aeroplanes at a time of National Crisis and danger.

Really when you summarise these questions it comes to this that in July, at a time of National Crisis, the stocks of ammunition, were reduced.

I must say on that point I was rather surprised to see to-day in one of the newspapers that support the Government a statement to the effect that it was almost a farce in this time of National Crisis that the House should be discussing military Estimates.

This is a Great National Crisis, as the right hon. Gentleman said, and all he can say is that he hopes and believes the Bill will bring about a settlement, but, if it does not, other measures may have to be considered.

The Resolution goes on to say:— "regrets the action recently taken by owners and middlemen in raising the price of coal to consumers for no other reason than to take advantage of a National Crisis for securing inflated profits at the expense of the general community, and considers that this exploitation of the public is a motive inducing sections of the employers to resist the reasonable demands of the workmen".

The Motion only suggests first that prices have been raised for no other reason than to take advantage of a National Crisis, for securing inflated profits at the expense of the community—that is to say, that prices have risen for no other reason than that they could be got, and I do not know of any other reason than 2003 that which could be given for any rise of prices.

What is the use in a Great National Crisis like this of moving "That this Bill be read upon this day six months".

It is our business to consider the National Crisis, to consider the matter in the interest of the nation, and the only excuse for our interference is that the interests of the nation are gravely at stake.

This is a serious matter, and we have a very limited amount of time for its discussion, and although hon. Members opposite have been scoffing at every proposition put before them by the Government, they have not put forward one single suggestion of their own to endeavour to assist in meeting what is a National Crisis.

If the speeches to which we have listened had been on those lines, namely, a gentle protest against Parliament interfering without doing what it was thought the situation demanded, but that when Parliament had done its best in reference to a Great National Crisis, it was well to face the new situation thus created in the spirit in which this Bill has been dealt with in this House, one could have quite well let the matter rest at that.

Furthermore, at any time of National Crisis the Admiralty have the power to call on every pilot in this Kingdom to come under its command and perform any work allotted to him.

While we are all anxious to assist the Government in discharging the pledge which they gave in a moment of National Crisis, I think it is desirable that the House of Commons should indicate that that pledge is really carried out by an arrangement which insures the matter coming up for discussion after a reasonable period without having to resort to the inconvenient method of moving to repeal the Act.

If he does, though he may not be putting any obstacle in the way of any present intention he has, he may gravely hamper himself or some successor at a moment of National Crisis, when you require immediately large financial resources to meet the expenses of some great war.

Are we not all cognisant that, if an emergency arose such as is suggested, this House would rise to the occasion and provide readily the necessary funds in case of war or in a National Crisis?

I am certain that patriotic landlords would give us every assistance in This National Crisis.

Welsh Colliers—Alleged Refusal to Work daring National Crisis, 2169.

Colliers in Wales—Alleged Refusal to Work during National Crisis, 2170.

Coal Mines—Alleged Refusal of Welsh Colliers to Work during National Crisis, 2170.

at the outbreak of war, with the result that a large number of small stock-owners put immature stock on the market—a most undesirable thing to do at a period of National Crisis.

If I understand the hon. and learned Gentleman aright, he thinks that the road to peace in a time of Great National Crisis is to be found in introducing into this House of Commons discussion upon a subject which cannot be discussed without great bitterness of feeling between the two parties, [An HON.

Mr. PIRIE: Is it not in the interests of the country as a whole in This Grave National Crisis that this Debate should be brought to an end?

It was never suggested to us by any responsible Minister on that Bench that by consenting to the establishment of the Press Bureau we were forfeiting the rights of freedom of publication in the Press which had belonged to us from time immemorial, and which I venture to tell the learned Solicitor-General is one of the privileges and possessions which even a Liberal 136 Government at a time of National Crisis cannot lightly filch from the Press or the nation of this country.

If it were once thought in the emergency of a Great National Crisis the Government had called into existence a body whose function it was to colour the nation in their favour, that would be an abuse of the confidence of the nation, and a use of a great national emergency for a very base end.

We are in a National Crisis, and whatever can be done, even though it be novel and a new experiment, ought to be done, and I believe will be done, to improve the social condition of our people.

It is rather that at this time of National Crisis a patriotic call is made upon them to make use of all their powers for the advantage of the whole of the United Kingdom.

Low wages, bad housing, and innumerable other evils, such as lack of personal freedom, have driven our men to the uttermost ends of the earth, and to-day, in the time of National Crisis, when we require them, they are not here.

Some of us, I think, quite agree with the words used by the Leader of the Opposition that either strikes or lock-outs in This Great National Crisis that is upon us are inconceivable.

and whether he proposes to take any action to prevent landlords prohibiting the production of corn by tenants at this time of National Crisis?

I look at the matter from two points of view: 1, the farmer, as a trade; 2, the national point of view, in that especially at a time of National Crisis like this the utmost possible quantity of food should be grown for the national need.

I do protest, and I think, if it can be shown that any such agitation has been worked up on a malicious foundation and that work has been delayed and efficiency impaired in consequence, the right hon. Gentleman should give some expression of opinion that at such a time of National Crisis these people are deserving of punishment and should have it.

I saw a very interesting letter written in the newspapers the other day from Mr. Llewelyn Williams, who perhaps inadvertently and not intentionally seemed to suggest that Welsh Churchmen have done less in the National Crisis than other bodies.

I have said before in this House—I was confident I was right then, and I am even more confident, if possible, now—I have said times out of number that the right way to govern our people in a time of Great National Crisis like this is not by concealing from them facts which can with perfect safety be given to them.

It seems to me a great waste that men should be employed in doing work that is better and probably more quickly done, and is in every way suitable to be done, by women at this time of National Crisis.

I think it would have been very much better if the Government, at a much earlier stage, had realised what they said they realised long ago, but what they show little evidence of realising even today in a period of Grave National Crisis, namely, that it is the obvious duty of the Government to say this, and it is quite simple, that in order to prosecute this War successfully it is absolutely essential that every man in this country should be at his place, and should carry on the duties precisely which he is most capable of carrying on and contributing to the common stock.

At any rate it is a question of theory which is not a practical question in This Great National Crisis.

We should do everything in our power to guard against that, and if we have to give way on a point here or a point there in face of Grave National Crisis that ought not to be taken as involving any permanent lowering of the educational life of this country.

I am coming reluctantly but certainly to the conclusion that in This Great National Crisis it ought not to be entirely on the leaders of one political party that the responsibility should rest.

Mr. TOUCHE asked the President of the Local Government Board whether the Government propose to take any action or make any suggestions with reference to the municipal elections this year, with a view to avoiding contested elections at the Present National Crisis, or is it intended to trust to local arrangements to avoid party contests in those elections?

Briefly, we want to know, and I think the country wants to know, whether this Government is the expression of a patriotic sentiment and a patriotic desire in a time of Great National Crisis to sink party differences, or whether it is the outcome of a Press intrigue—whether this Coalition is the creation of Lord Northcliffe and the "Daily Mail," arising out of his attacks against the Minister of War in connection with the Dardanelles expedition.

I do not think that anybody at this time of National Crisis, and certainly nobody representing any class in this House, will come to this House and say that those whom they represent are not desirous of making sacrifices in the War, and if they can be shown a reasonable arrangement by which prices can be kept down without their being absolutely penalised, then I do not believe there is any class in this country that is not prepared to agree to such an arrangement.

I did not hear, nor have I heard from time to time, any stress laid upon the advisory position which, in a Great National Crisis like the present, the Board of Trade might fairly be expected to take up.

Unless this system is changed in two respects—in the first place, by the abolition of the system of assessment of farmers' income under Schedule B and placing them under Schedule D, and, in the second place, in assessing the farmers' income upon the profits which they have actually made—the farmers are going to pocket money to which they have no moral right and which has been made out of the necessities of This Great National Crisis.

I submit to the Committee and to the Home Office that if it be true that it is not intended as the result of members of the inspecting profession having enlisted, to make a further appointment and that they are going to take advantage of This National Crisis as a reason and excuse why they should relinquish and relax even the far from satisfactory mining inspection which exists in this country, then that is decidedly a reactionary policy and one that ought not to receive the endorsement of this Committee.

We think that at This National Crisis it is our duty to do everything we can in the interest of the nation, and that meetings of this kind should be discouraged as much as possible, and taking a lenient view the fine we impose is £25—(Cries of 'Shame!

This is a time of National Crisis.

and whether, in view of the existing National Crisis, he can see his way to introduce, as an emergency measure, a short Bill providing for the abolition of all such clauses in any lease or agreement, and the substitution of a simple undertaking that the land shall be properly laid down after the cropping?

It protested in emphatic terms, namely: "That this meeting of the citizens of Cardiff protests against an agitation in favour of a premature and false peace as calculated to create dissension in a time of National Crisis and to advance the interests of the enemy; it asserts its belief that an enduring peace is only attainable through unflinching adherence by the British Empire to the common cause of the Allies, and pledges itself to support any action the Government may deem necessary for the vigorous prosecution of the War until a final and complete victory is assured.

It is a matter of unduly pressing a privilege, and I beg to move that this House doth disagree with the Amendment for the purpose of marking our dislike of the introduction of principles of levity upon a serious matter like this when we are in the midst of a Great National Crisis.

I agree with the previous speakers that in this time of Our Great National Crisis the unity of the nation is of paramount importance, that division and disunity are the only evils from which we have anything to fear, and that if we remain united, if we put, as I am quite sure we shall, all our national resources into the pool, then victory is absolutely sure, and our gallant lads will carry our flag to victory.

I am not here to claim for the farmer excessive prices in this time of National Crisis and danger, but I do say that he is entitled to fair treatment, and I argue that, unless he has fair and considerate treatment, naturally he will not be able to put forth that enterprise and exertion which he would otherwise wish to do, and if he has not got the men he cannot grow the crops.

I know that in some cases the commodore superintendent has said, when the time has come for establishment, "Your timekeeping has not been as good as it might have been," and certainly my hon. Friend would be the first to say in this time of National Crisis that everybody must pull his load for all he is worth.

I am convinced, from the number of cases that have been brought to my own personal knowledge, that there must be at least a couple of hundred thousand, probably more, of men in the Army who are physically quite unfit for any military duty and who would be rendering far more useful and necessary service in this time of National Crisis if they were permitted to go back to their occupation.

and whether, in selecting certain Members only as the recipients of these unabridged copies, he has considered to what extent such a course of action may foster party and other sectional divisions and by so much act adversely to Parliamentary unity in these days of National Crisis?

The object of enrolling dockyard workers and miners is to make their labour mobile, so that should a Great National Crisis arise, and I think it may arise, it will be possible to find willing men who are prepared at a moment's notice, and at the request of the Director-General, to go to some other part of the country and there fulfil some important national duty to meet that national crisis.

and whether, having regard to the feeling existing in the country against the use of motor cars for purely pleasure purposes at a time of National Crisis, he will take immediate steps to prohibit the issue of any further supplies of petrol to the owners of motor cars used for such purposes?

Mr. MILLAR asked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the feeling manifested throughout the country as to the incongruity of holding race meetings at a time of Grave National Crisis, and of the consumption of oats and other feeding stuffs by racehorses, and the waste of money and man-power associated with racing, he will now take steps to prohibit the holding of any further race meetings during the War?

The very last thing which I would wish to do is to prevent men being brought into our Army in this very Grave National Crisis.

whether he is aware that early in the War many of these offered to do work of national importance but were refused, and that later on being asked to volunteer to do such work they have declined, largely owing to the menaces offered to them; and whether he will consider giving to those interned aliens who are of good will, and especially to those who have married British women and have sons in the Army, such offers of pay and protection as will encourage them to do useful work in the National Crisis?

Sir OWEN PHILIPPS: At this time of Great National Crisis, because in my view the position of shipbuilding is very grave, I would be the last person to rise in this House in a critical spirit.

They think and speak of nothing but This Great National Crisis.

It is not surprising, having regard to the circumstances, that the farmers in Gloucestershire should feel very strongly about this matter, and they have passed the resolution, which, perhaps, the right hon. Gentleman has seen, to this effect: "That the Gloucestershire Farmers' Union expresses its surprise and regret at the serving of notices to quit on the agricultural tenants of the Berkeley Estate in this time of National Crisis, and also at the request made to them to pay very largely increased rents, seeing the great 1510 demands now being made upon farmers, and strongly advises tenants not to sign the suggested new agreements, and pledges itself to support them in every possible way".

I am all in favour of humility, but, if that means that the Government ought to be timid, then nothing could be more fatal than that in a National Crisis like this there should be a Government in such a position.

It has been my business in the course of the last year, under the presidency of the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Samuel), to review a number of these enterprises which have been entered upon by the Government on a very large scale, and I think the country really is to be congratulated 360 on having had at its disposal in this time of Great National Crisis a certain number of men who had the wisdom and the foresight to see that great enterprises would be required and would have to be carried out if this great War was to be carried to a successful conclusion.

It is prepared to be led in matters which are of national importance, especially in times of National Crisis, but no case has been made good for bringing in at the present time a further Conscription Bill, and I venture to say that the Government will reap a harvest of irritation and growing discontent if the War Office for some time to come exercises domination over the destinies of a great part of the male population of the country.

What is there to prevent him bringing in another Budget if he wants more money in Any Great National Crisis which might arise!

Let them draft the wards as they like, and do not have a National Crisis or another hour of Imperial emergency and difficulty for a matter of this sort".

We are living in a time of Great National Crisis, and if the Government come forward with small, ineffective, half, or quarter measures, then the prospect before the country is black indeed.

I shall be the first to admit that permission was properly given, and that the allotment-holders who contributed to the production of food at a time of National Crisis deserve the best thanks of the country.

There can be little doubt that nothing is more dangerous to this country than the feeling of reaction produced in the mind of a man who has done in every way what he could at a time of National Crisis, if he feels that somehow or other his services have not been fully requited and his children have to suffer.

As the Leader of the House has said—and I think he has never gone back on that position—it is not a matter so much of principle as it is a matter of expediency in the time of a Great National Crisis.

We can only claim that, at a time of Grave National Crisis, we took over great financial responsibilities, and we do not consider, having as a small community 1983 become responsible in this way for what was a great national requirement, that the loss incumbent upon the reversal of that policy should fall upon this community.

I suggest that the same public enterprise which was successful in taking us out of the difficulties of the National Crisis should be devoted to solving the problem of unemployment.

In the document issued to the employers they are urged to put pressure upon suitable men to come forward and volunteer in a Great National Crisis.

It may be that presently we shall find ourselves in face of a National Crisis which will demand much more drastic measures than merely a postponement of a new reform of this kind.

If this Government or any other Government relies in season and out of season on the Watch Committees of the various cities and boroughs carrying out, with the assistance of the chief constables, the good government of these districts, surely they can better be relied upon in times of National Crisis to carry out their duties than can be done by impoing upon them special Regulations of this kind.

The Act is intended to deal with a National Crisis, and the national crisis has long since passed, and we ought to refuse to the Home Secretary further powers under the Act.

It is the line from which in the last event, in the event of a Great National Crisis, additional troops would have to be raised and raised in their own divisions, not as drafts for the Regular Army but as the sole means of increasing the fighting forces of the Crown.

I submit to the Attorney-General that the opinion of an eminent legal authority like Lord Loreburn, is perhaps of far more importance than expressions of opinion from Lord Oxford or the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Spen Valley during a moment of Great National Crisis.

At times of National Crisis, the House of Commons has always been the great hope of the nation.

Reserve in event of National Crisis [203], 1447.

Aircraft, reserve in event of National Crisis [203], 1447.

When he held another most important office on 173 the eve of a Great National Crisis, this industry, scattered right round the coast, helped him in a way very few other industries were able to do.

The Poor Law and the Insurance Acts are all very well in normal, seasonal periods of unemployment, but I feel more strongly than ever that they are undoubtedly inadequate for a Great National Crisis like this.

In addition to that, it is agreed, 1866 and it will be embodied in this agreement, that there will be British control of all the companies, and the Government may assume control of cables and wireless systems either in time of war or in a National Crisis.

Is it not time that we were settling down to regard this is a Great National Crisis; to regard Britain as a great national workshop; to regard our industries as the basis of our mental and intellectual activities, and to regard our success in dealing with them, as the test of whether or not we are going to retain a foremost place in the civilisation of the world?

It is so cheap to buy a solitary aeroplane, it is so easy to get one aeroplane built, and there is no difficulty in the way of any country in the world finding a patriot who, at a time of National Crisis, would be prepared to sacrifice his life deliberately in the attempt to cause the maximum amount of damage to those with whom at the time his country might be either at war or on the verge of war.

The only contribution which he has made to the solution of our very Serious National Crisis is, first of all, Safeguarding.

We are here, like every Government, to be criticised and attacked, because it is by that process in this country that we hammer out proposals and submit them to the judgment of the electorate; but personally I have no fear, subject to the one condition that the facts are stated to the electorate, that they will appreciate the meaning of This National Crisis.

We are in the midst of a Great National Crisis, and it is time we asked great sacrifices from every section of the community.

A Measure which brings this uncertainty into industry is being introduced at a time of National Crisis, when it is absolutely vital that all that we can do to help industry and nothing to harm industry should be done.

We say that it is impossible for a trade unionist in a time of National Crisis to be equally loyal to the union which commands him to be disloyal to the State, and to the State which demands from him loyalty to the exclusion of his trade union.

To-day, instead of that, we are asked to begin upon a bitter partisan discussion of a Bill, for which, as I say, there is no national demand and which is gratuitously forcing us to waste the time of the House at a moment of Great National Crisis.

We have had to provide, in this time of National Crisis, about£35,000,000 a year to subsidise the local rates.

We have had to provide, in this time of National Crisis, about £35,000,000 a year to subsidise to local rates".

If they say that we must do this because of a National Crisis, why do something that will make the national crisis worse?

Therefore, if by negotiation and by using the machinery of conciliation, we can bring about peace, goodwill and co-operation in This Great National Crisis, we shall he doing a great service not only to the teachers, but to the education of the child.

I do not think a National Crisis, if you accept it as a national crisis, should be an occasion for breaking down all those standards which have been won and carefully arrived at by committee after committee during the past years.

I beg him to keep faith with them, because it will be a bad precedent to compel them to break their contracts, though they may be induced by argument to see the Government's point of view in a National Crisis.

Why in this so-called National Crisis are you denying to our class the right to their manhood and their independence?

There is a National Crisis; this is an important Resolution; what is the Cabinet doing?

The men in the Service are quite willing to bear their share in the Present National Crisis.

Despite the National Crisis and all the difficulties that we are encountering, not only have we on this side never accepted, and cannot accept, the position that in the scheme of economies inequality of sacrifice should obtain, but we can never understand why the Government made it absolutely imperative, so to speak, made it a sine qua non, made it the first condition of being a Government at all, that the standard of benefit and the conditions of the people insured under unemployment insurance should be worsened.

We have met now by far the greater part of the public bodies representing local authorities, and so far I have found them fully seized of the gravity of the position and clearly anxious to play their part in the National Crisis.

This is not an equitable 397 tax, and it is not an equitable way of meeting a National Crisis.

It says, give the opportunity to the people who control our system to speculate, even at the expense of the people, in a time of National Crisis and they will do it to the full.

I am reinforced in this belief by the splendid' spirit of co-operation which is being shown by the majority of our teachers, and by their full realisation of the National Crisis.

We have been told that this Bill is introduced in order to deal with a Grave National Crisis.

The present Government was formed to deal with a National Crisis, and seven or eight months' delay is not the way in which to do it.

I would therefore reiterate the statement which I made at the opening of my speech, namely, that this is nothing more than an emergency Bill to deal for a short time with a Great National Crisis, and that it is our firm intention to safeguard in every possible way, whether under the present regime or whether under any future changes to which the Government of India might be subject, the rights and guarantees of the services.

We have been told to-day that whenever we address our constituents we should always preface our remarks by telling them that we are still facing a Grave National Crisis, but that we must not blame the Government because they spent all the time before the election in discussing a formula and all the time since the election in discussing the protection of some pettifogging articles under the Orders of the President of the Board of Trade and carrots and asparagus under the Orders of the 1986 Minister of Agriculture.

If we return to our constituencies to-day, we shall meet with the people who were told only five or six weeks ago that there was a Great National Crisis.

If Governments were sincere and desirous of real action, we would be prepared to support them in this House, but we want to protest as strongly as we can against a two months' holiday during a time when we are drifting to a Great National Crisis and necessity.

Viscountess ASTOR: Could the right hon. Gentleman suggest to the brewers that they should advertise less and not discharge men during This National Crisis?

I have quotations of his, but I do not wish to embarrass an old friend, and I agree that there is a, National Crisis.

Then the National Crisis is over.

By the time we got down to the Minister of Pensions, we got away from any of the National Crisis ideas and got back to the old Tariff Reform controversy.

We have fought that proposal for many years, but now, taking advantage of a National Crisis and of the blizzard that has swept over the world, the Government are introducing this principle into our financial system.

I would like to see all changes of station withheld entirely this year, that the changes should be made, perhaps, every two or three years in times of National Crisis, and that the money thus saved should be used for the training of cadet units, or, failing them, for the Officers Training Corps.

if the nation is in a terrible plight, if it is so terribly hard pressed that it cannot pay out this money, and the rest of us get what we do get, whether it is £360 a year, or £3,600 a year, or whatever it is, I say that in a time of National Crisis the whole of the people of the nation, not a few only, ought to bear the burden and to go without.

Whatever the Minister may say about the intention of local authorities, I say that the so-called National Crisis, when economy was advocated, provided an incentive to those men on local authorities who are not keen to provide houses for the workers to slacken effort in that direction.

An anxious 852 country returned this Parliament to face a National Crisis, to stop national degeneration if possible and to check the tendency to decay.

They are utilising the National Crisis, with the aid of their captives to give the Government a semblance of a National Government—they are utilising that national crisis, which I agree with the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill) was a little exaggerated, and, as he said, manipulated—to carry into effect a programme with which they would never have had the courage to face the country.

This House, which was elected at a time of Grave National Crisis, must weigh up that consideration very carefully when any Measure comes before it.

The last election, if it was fought upon anything at all, was fought upon this prin- 42 ciple, that in the National Crisis the national burden should be equally distributed over the various classes of the community.

This arises out of the National Crisis last year.

We should see that the legislation that is passed now in a Great National Crisis does not leave them worse off or less secure at the end of the crisis than they were when the National Government were elected.

One realises that questions which are not of immediate national importance in the sense that financial questions are at the moment cannot receive the same full and adequate consideration that they otherwise would, and the people of Scotland may have to suffer along with other people for the time being, in view of the National Crisis.

slow but sure decrease in the revenue of the year, and I maintain that anything that defeats its own purpose is something from which we should rid ourselves, at least at this stage of Our National Crisis, at the earliest possible moment.

Whether we are in a National Crisis or not—there is much doubt about it, but I accept it that there is a national crisis—I do believe that if you wish to avert disaster, the people, above all, must be made contented, and the duty we owe to mankind is to the poorest of the poor.

There would seem to be no reason for all the talk about a National Crisis, and so on.

The fact that they are there is entirely due to the National Crisis, and we expect the right hon. Gentleman to do something for Scotland and Scottish agriculture.

I believe that if that particular research were developed, with real enthusiasm behind it, it could become not only a powerful contributor to a bigger demand for coal in this country, but, in the Present National Crisis, one of the greatest contributors to bringing about an equalisation in our payments abroad.

Party discipline can be fatal in a National Crisis.

I would not hesitate in a, national Government in a National Crisis to compromise on any Act, but I am supporting this Bill to-night not as a matter of compromise, but on its merits, because in the form in which we have it now it is not only desirable but right and necessary.

The statement of our colour users proceeds: "The British makers took immediate advantage of the conditions created by the cartel to exploit the consumer, and domestic dyestuff prices were drastically increased at a time of National Crisis and when the Government were insisting that no justification existed for the raising of internal prices".

Then we were still in the throes of the National Crisis.

When Parliament has definitely authorised the undertaking of a 10 years' programme; when Parliament has allowed large sums of money to be spent in anticipation of that programme, which will be wasted if it is curtailed; 65 and when we know that every penny that is spent will bring back full value, not only in employment, and in saving unemployment benefit, but ultimately in revenue to the Exchequer, the wrecking of that programme—for it has been wrecked—is not economy, but waste, and it is a waste which can only be excused by the extreme difficulty which everybody must have had, at a time of National Crisis, in distinguishing between true and false economy.

It will be a gesture of good will and remind them that even in these times of National Crisis, when great industrial problems present themselves for consideration, that their interests are not overlooked in this great assembly of the House of Commons.

He has not regarded it as his job as Chancellor of the Exchequer to face, through the medium of this Budget, the Grave National Crisis through which we are passing.

In my judgment, this Budget fails in the essential quality that it does not face up to the National Crisis with which we are confronted; it is a "bung and bunk" Budget.

It was a man from one of those communities that this country called to the leadership of this nation in the National Crisis in 1931.

Let us always remember that this Government arose out of a Great National Crisis.

That imposition was made in a time of National Crisis and desperate need.

In addition, they say that, when the National Crisis developed in 1931, the Government appealed to the doctors to accept a temporary reduction of 10 per cent.

I do not suppose that anybody will suggest that unemployed workers and their families are the people best able to bear the burden of This National Crisis.

This distressed area is proposing to restore, on 1st January, the cuts in pay made as a consequence of the National Crisis.

Let hon. Members not forget the men who in the day of National Crisis saved the British mercantile marine and this country, and many lost their lives in doing so.

the unemployed are put in an inferior position to every other person who suffered cuts at the time of the National Crisis, and it is not right.

We have a right to know where the Government stand on this matter, and I ask the Minister for a declaration to-night as to whether the means test, applied to people in receipt of transitional payments, is of a permanent and not of a temporary nature due to the National Crisis.

But I content myself with finally appealing to the Minister to make a simple declaration as to whether anything is going to be done for those persons who have not only suffered cuts, but whose whole incomes have been taken away, and as to whether the Government mean that the means test is to be permanent, without any relief for the great mass of the people who believed that it was due to reasons of economy in the National Crisis, and that, as the crisis passed away, the cuts would be fully restored.

they appealed to the electorate to elect them in order to save the country from what they claimed to be a National Crisis, telling the country that no party advantage was going to be taken, but that all three parties were going to work for the common weal of the country, and that when once the country was again in safety then the three" parties could dissolve and assume their separate existences once more.

My position has been that the cuts in salaries form part of one whole, that whole being the measures which were considered necessary in order to deal with the 48 National Crisis in 1931.

There is an overwhelming case on the ground of equity for these people, who will, unless something is done, have to carry right to the end of their lives an imposition in respect of a National Crisis which others who are in the same grade and similarly qualified will not be called upon to bear.

The Prime Minister came down to this House quite soon after the National Government was formed, and when our attention was taken up in surviving as well as we could the National Crisis which was then before us.

The whole House, irrespective of party, rejoiced last year when the cuts in benefit were restored, and when in many cases that restoration was followed in the matter of transitional payments; but in a case such as I have outlined to the House you are going to have a far more severe cut even than the cut imposed in the National Crisis of 1931.

It is equally true that they had net the courage to apply their principles until they were able to exploit a National Crisis for their own party ends under the guise of a National Government.

The hon. Member's question relates to the voluntary contribution made by the British Broadcasting Corporation at the time of the National Crisis, and I have answered that question.

Under the influence of private trading associations, however, and contrary to well-established case law - contrary also to the opinion of the ex-Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue and representative Inland Revenue witnesses - the Chancellor succumbed to unfair political pressure and took advantage of the National Crisis to cancel that principle of mutuality and inflict double taxation on a large section of the citizens of this country.

When it comes to a National Crisis it is not people who sit on that bench who matter.

I would also except times of National Crisis or extreme national financial stringency.

Mr. LESLIE asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will consider the advisability of taking action to acquire deer forests in the Highlands, which were formerly cultivated lands, in order to establish national cattle ranches for the purpose of safeguarding food supplies in the event of a National Crisis?

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will consider the advisability of taking action to acquire deer forests in the Highlands, which were formerly cultivated lands, in order to establish national cattle ranches for the purpose of safeguarding food supplies in the event of a National Crisis?

We came to these people in the time of National Crisis.

This is the time of Their National Crisis, and who is going to help them?

In the matter of house-building we have reached a National Crisis.

All this work has to be done at a moment of National Crisis and perhaps of appalling danger, and the same necessity for discipline applies just as in the case of Territorials or even regular soldiers.

I shall not object if the Government line up the whole nation and put almost any question you like to them - if they say, "This is a Great National Crisis, and you must submit to it": in other words, why not have a census, and have a census now?

Had the National Crisis not have arisen when it did, and had not the ex-Prime Minister had to give all his attention to it, this question would have been dealt with before now.

That is not a point to which I attach great importance, but it means that the boastful placards, appearing on days of Great National Crisis, and telling us that the Colonel gave us two naps or the Major gave "Love lies Bleeding," would be stopped.

Undoubtedly that is a step in the right direc1ion, but I wonder how many Members in this House could put their hands on their hearts and swear they read through every word of the A.R.P. Handbook, which was handed out to us at a time of Grave National Crisis, when it should have been studied with the greatest care.

Where we differ from the ordinary statement of belief in national defence which comes from hon. Members opposite is that here we know, as the result of almost deadly experience, that in times of National Crisis and in times of war the desire of the people to assist in the defence of their country has been used to take away the liberties of the working men at home.

We have no desire, on the plea of National Crisis, to copy the model of what is happening in France, and hand over supreme power to suppress all working-class freedom to a National Government which is in sympathy with Fascist dictators and which represents the interests of people like the Federation of British Industries, who chose the day upon which Hitler's troops entered Prague to sign their agreement with their opposite numbers in Germany, entirely careless of the overthrow of democracy in Czecho-Slovakia and of the breach of every pledge that had been given by the German Government.

I do not believe it is fair to arrive at a moment of Great National Crisis and then ask the people to accept compulsory National Service.

Was it for that that this meeting of Parliament was summoned at a time of National Crisis?

At a time of National Crisis, when there is an enemy at the gates, we range ourselves together to prevent him from coming in, and it is not too much to ask that in the crisis that we are facing now we should range ourselves in a way which will give employment to all.

but something is to be done now in face of a Possible National Crisis, and I believe that more will be accomplished as the result of that than could have been achieved by all the pressure which we have been able to bring to bear from these benches.

They have never before recognised their duty to have regard to the needs of their workpeople living round and about the collieries, the amenities of the district or the health of those people; but something is to be done now in face of a Possible National Crisis, and I believe that more will be accomplished as the result of that than could have been achieved by all the pressure which we have been able to bring to bear from these benches.

This disastrous Labour party had to be turned out and men of good will, other than those belonging to this party, had to come together and form a National Government, in order to deal with the Impending National Crisis that was driving us into bankruptcy.

We discussed across the Floor of the House wealth and poverty, putting one against the other, discussing what a man has, what he draws per week and what he gives away, but those are matters of infinitesimal importance when it comes to a National Crisis and a war.

In the third place, a national plan should provide in This National Crisis an opportunity of work for every willing worker.

Therefore it seems ridiculous to me that this gross injustice should be perpetrated on every Member of Parliament in an endeavour to create an impression which certainly will not be created, because all the general public believe now and will continue to believe, whatever they may be told by Conservative members and candidates-and of course, other politicians are not so careful in their statements -that we, as Members of Parliament, have at this time of National Crisis and heavy local expenditure, taken up the time of the House to push through this proposal.

Is he laying down as a suggestion to this House at this time of so-called National Crisis that it is essential that we should retain secrecy as to whether the Government are requiring land for defensive purposes in order to get that land at a reasonable price?

If we do not, it will be an everlasting disgrace that at this time of National Crisis we did not do our best, not for a section but for the whole country, by guarding the lives and health of our juveniles.

If a National Crisis were in any way on the lines of what is dealt with in this Bill, we should only have to bring in a Bill to prevent any further national crisis.

I believe it would be fairer at this time of Grave National Crisis if a graduated contribution was asked for from every section of the community, from every individual.

It fills most of us with dismay to think that in a time of National Crisis, when everyone ought to be giving all he can to help to bring the war to a sucessful issue, we have to try to meet people who use every means in their power to make excess profits out of the nation's need.

To the great amazement of many Members of the House, and to the amazement of people in the country, and if I may judge by the letters I have received from England, Scotland and Wales, and especially in view of the Present National Crisis, the right hon. Gentleman replied:I see no reason for such investigation".

It seems to me that on this occasion, as on previous occasions in a National Crisis, the hon. Member has shown a lack of appreciation of the true spirit of democracy.

I hope that in the present time of National Crisis their example will be followed generally and that all concerns liable to Excess Profits Tax will co-operate with the Inland Revenue authorities in ensuring the early payment of the tax.

If he is to justify the great position which he holds at the time of National Crisis, not merely as Chancellor of the Exchequer but as a Member of the War Cabinet, hemust make the nation realise the vastness of our expenditure and the terrific scale of the financial liability of the State.

They are fully aware of the important place which their industry takes in this time of Great National Crisis.

Substitution and training are now universally accepted as being assential, and I both hope and believe that agriculture will be able to play its part in this moment of National Crisis.

an acre, and yet, when a National Crisis comes, they are asked to make no contribution.

Does he not think that, in a time of National Crisis, it is desirable to save labour and time in this House?

They are working hard, and I want to see them with the best opportunities for doing the best they can for the country, in This Serious National Crisis.

Honest traders - and they are in the majority - desire to assist the Government and the consuming public in This National Crisis.

Is it then to be wondered at that the trade unions, even in a time of National Crisis calling for national unity, should feel strongly that they are an essential part of the community and that they have to continue to watch with the utmost vigilance the interests of their members with regard to hours, conditions and wages, just as they did in time of peace, in order to prevent exploitation?

In Debate after Debate, whenever we are in a National Crisis, we hear nothing but good of the miners, and to-day compliments have again been paid to them for their loyalty, for their patriotism, and for everything that stands well in the national well- being.

It is, therefore, right that at a moment of National Crisis we should spare the time to consider the place of religious education in national life - the supreme place, if religious education be truly considered.

I would like to say, in conclusion, that this House has debated the question of mining a number of times, and, as I said at the beginning of my remarks, the question of the miner, his hours, his conditions of labour and his wages, gets scant courtesy in various directions when everything is going smoothly, but when we are faced with a National Crisis and the commodity which the miner produces is of vital importance to us as a nation, then to an appreciable extent the miner comes into his own.

Nobody can say that agriculture has not played its part in the National Crisis up to now, and I do not see any reason why forestry, which must march with agriculture, should not be brought under the same control as agriculture in Scotland.

I see no reason why all those qualities which are called out in times of National Crisis, should not be developed and should not find expression in grappling with economic, financial, political and social issues.

One is reminded of speeches made in the past by Cardinal Hinsley and Cardinal Bourne in times of Great National Crisis.

and whether he would be prepared to authorise heads of Departments to exercise discretion in suitable cases for the reduction of hours in modification of instructions given at a time when the National Crisis was in its most acute stage.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to what extent information in his possession corresponds with the common experience of medical practitioners that there has recently been an increase of illness among women civil servants due to fatigue; and whether he would be prepared to authorise heads of Departments to exercise discretion in suitable cases for the reduction of hours in modification of instructions given at a time when the National Crisis was in its most acute stage.

I submit that we are now facing a very Grave National Crisis.

It was that in war time the Coalition Government came to this House year by year, in those times of Great National Crisis, to renew these powers.

The hon. Gentleman also said in the course of his interesting speech that the Government and his Department had now definitely abandoned in this sphere the matter of voluntary appeal to British citizens and industry to come in and help in this undoubted hour of National Crisis.

It is a National Crisis.

When there is a National Crisis let every man forget his own party.

The right hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Eden) talked about the greatest National Crisis for 20 years.

They have been too ready to work up a National Crisis.

The hon. Gentleman has made a most serious charge against those on this side of the House of working up a National Crisis.

May I ask you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, whether this attribution of motives by the hon. Gentleman, that some of us have been responsible for a National Crisis, is, or is not, within the meaning of the Standing Order?

I accuse the Conservative Opposition in this House of deliberately exaggerating the situation, deliberately talking about a National Crisis which does not exist, and in which they do not believe, in order to find a road back to power which they could never get in any other way.

And I am saying that a time in which the Government are facing a Great National Crisis, and are calling upon the people to work hard, asking even the trades unions to restrict their rules - as the Prime Minister suggested this weekend - is not the time for extensions anywhere of the drinking habits and of the drinking facilities in this country.

She said, and I am prepared to take her word for it, that the way those men were handled last week about the Sunday was thoroughly stupid to say the least of it, and that a potential willingness to work, an anxiety to work, a readiness' to do their best to meet This National Crisis, was nipped in the bud and converted into a sullen sense of grievance.

However, with the development of the atomic age, are we really to be told it is essential that young men should now be taken into the Armed Forces at 18 years of age, during This Great National Crisis?

Although the hon. Member for Shettleston, and no doubt the whole of the party opposite, are convinced that "Socialism in our time" is the right and proper policy for this country, there is a large body of opinion throughout the country which believes that that is not the case, and that, therefore, this hurried policy of nationalisation which has been adopted by the Government has aroused a vast amount of opposition against it throughout the country, Surely it is not unreasonable for us, in this time of National Crisis, to ask that the Government might go a little more quietly in their nationalisation programme, and so avoid those violent party politics which are what we least desire and which are so undesirable in the present circumstances.

That is what we have to learn in This National Crisis.

But we are not asked to vote on the Government Motion, we are asked to vote on the policy of the Government to meet the National Crisis, and we believe that that policy falls tragically short of what is necessary.

They regard it as a National Crisis, as a crisis involving the whole community, and they are prepared to help make good these deficiencies - for the community.

On the contrary, I believe - and my opinion is based on my experience in my constituency - that the introduction of this Measure will do much to rally and to reassure those elements in the country on whose willing and sustained response to the present appeals for further production in the factories and elsewhere so much depends in these days of National Crisis.

I mention that fact only because I do feel that at this time of National Crisis this matter will, among some sections of the electorate, create a diversion of thought from that upon which thought and energy should be concentrated - the economic situation.

These are the unmistakable signs of a National Crisis which far transcends party politics.

At a time when working men are being appealed to, with some success, to forgo increases of wages, at a time when they are working harder, and are being asked to give additional labour - as,for example, recently, when they have been helping at weekends to get a quicker turn-round of railway wagons - if, in This National Crisis, working men can be persuaded to labour altruistically for the community, then there is no case for those who seek to make profits out of the general efforts, and who seek to maintain those profits at the level to which they have been accustomed.

breaking them down into proportions that fit the minds and stomachs of their members, so that they may be induced, temporarily, at any rate, during the period of National Crisis to resume the 3½ hours' work which I have mentioned.

I am asking my friends of the trade union movement not only to consider this matter of the freezingof wages but also to discuss with the trade union branches these great national and international economic problems; breaking them down into proportions that fit the minds and stomachs of their members, so that they may be induced, temporarily, at any rate, during the period of National Crisis to resume the 3½ hours' work which I have mentioned.

It is a wanton and unprovoked blow, one more blow, at the professional classes - for so it will be regarded - and this at a moment when we all desire to see the new Health Service Act made as efficient as possible by the willing entry of the doctors into the service, and at a moment when all classes of the country are rightly being called upon to help in meeting the National Crisis.

It was sent to the National Crisis Production Committee, which comprises representatives of the unions and the managements of all the textile concerns in Northern Ireland.

It is perfectly clear - and the Opposition are only too anxious on every possible occasion to drive it home - that for a long time we have been in a period of great and continuing National Crisis.

Do they mean that they are prepared to abate party warfare on domestic issues in this moment of National Crisis, or only that they expect the Government to give up the Parliament Bill or any other Bill which is obnoxious to them?

The point is - does the Opposition agree that everyone should pull his weight in This National Crisis and if he refuses to pull his weight that we should do nothing about it?

I listened very carefully at this time of Grave National Crisis for some glimmer in the hon. Member's speech of a constructive suggestion for dealing with it; but all we heard was a prolonged dribble of political recrimination.

The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) has chosen this moment of Grave National Crisis to make what was frankly an electioneering speech, a speech as irrelevant to the real issues with which the country is faced today as was his famous, and to us helpful, broadcast in 1945.

I go further: bring in legislation and make all that kind of thing in This National Crisis a criminal offence.

and whether, in view of the Present National Crisis and the need to save manpower and petrol, he will reconsider this matter.

People controversy to distract attention from the National Crisis?

Since then we havethought of it only as a temporary expedient to help us through a Grave National Crisis.

We regard it as a temporary expedient to get us through a Grave National Crisis.

With all sincerity, one must point out to the Conservative Party that each time they have been approached, in a National Crisis, to give their support, they have always made demands upon the Government in power.

The fact that no Minister of full Cabinet rank has taken part in this debate and that it is to be wound up by a junior Minister - and there is nothing personal in this matter at all, because we all appreciate his assiduity and his courtesy - shows, once again, the frivolity of the Government at this time of National Crisis and shows, once again, how out of touch they are not only with the needs of the time but with the wishes of the people.

I sum up this part of my argument by the plain statement that the latitude permitted was written into the statute to meet precisely the conditions which exist today, namely, that of a Government with a precarious majority, and in all probability a great minority in the country, and also a time of National Crisis.

I know that under Clause 10 (2) there must be over-riding security for the State and that in the event of some really Serious National Crisis or act of God it may be necesasry for even the dedicated woodlands to cease cutting - I think we all accept that - but there is a somewhat obscure passage in Clause 2 that I should like cleared up.

It is not helpful, in This National Crisis, to make alarmist statements, and it is a fact - and I challenge the hon. Member to deny it - that the unemployment figures for male workers have never been lower at this time of year than they are now.

I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Huyton (Mr. H. Wilson), that the Budget is little related to the National Crisis, but I think there are some extremely disturbing things in it.

All that the Budget does is to make for a less equal distribution of income than before, just at a time of National Crisis, when the whole emphasis ought to be on equality and fair shares.

Perhaps the Chancellor will answer this - either now or this evening: Was it on purpose, or was it by mistake, that at this time of National Crisis - as he told us - he gave away an extra £25 to the single man with a wholly unearned income of £10,000 a year?

Very often quite wrong conclusions are drawn in other connections when it is said, and especially abroad, that at a time of National Crisis we are working on a 42 or 44 hour week, and the laity think that workpeople work 42 or 44 hours.

What we are concerned with is a proposal to use the Present National Crisis - and the Government are never tired of telling us about it - as the occasion for reducing the national revenue by £88 million in a full year and giving that amount to precisely that class of taxpayer which, as things now stand, is best off.

They ought not to ask the people to make sacrifices in these days and to appreciate the gravity of the National Crisis, both financial and economic, and, at the same time, waste the time of Parliament frivolously with repaying the brewers for the funds that they give to the Conservative Party.

Once again he is doing exactly the same thing under cover of a National Crisis.

We ran into a National Crisis and the result was a General Election.

Nobody visualises, short of a National Crisis, any return to a period in which there would be a dramatic rise in Purchase Tax from which traders might recoup themselves; so that they have no hope whatever of regaining what they are losing by the present Budgetary reductions in Purchase Tax.

What we have done in the last 300 years, in moments of Great National Crisis, has been to turn ourselves into a great discussion group.

which will bring immeasurable hardship upon the people who can least defend themselves: which will intensify inflation and, at a time of National Crisis, create unrest, disputes and bitterness, and divide the nation.

I certainly do not agree with the hon. Lady the Member for Liverpool, Exchange (Mrs. Braddock) that a National Crisis is likely to arise if this railway ceases to operate.

There are some fortunate people who have incomes of between £5,000 and £7,500 a year for quite a long time, and we have to consider whether those persons should be entitled to a special tax concession at a time which, as we understand from the Chancellor at other moments, is one of National Crisis, financial emergency, of trying to stand still on a plateau which we may or may not attain, and of a number of other remarkable difficulties.

I say quite bluntly that this seems to me to be a most serious matter in this Budget, not so much in itself, but as the clearest possible indication that the Tory Government have not changed their spots in the least, and that in dealing with questions of savings in a time of National Crisis and national emergency, the attitude that they take towards those who are earning between £5,000 and £7,500 a year is entirely different from the attitude they take towards those who put their savings into co-operative societies and small municipal banks.

I suppose that it is inevitable, even in moments of Great National Crisis, for an Englishman to refer to the weather.

We remember that the percentage system has always been abandoned in time of National Crisis, or when the Government wanted to cut down expenditure.

Let them have freight aircraft and let the independent operators have aircraft, on a rental basis, which could be called in at 24 hours' notice in the event of a National Crisis.

Whenever the percentage grant has been abandoned, or its abandonment has been advised, it has been only in times of Real National Crisis or when the Government have been determined to cut down expenditure.

Indeed, the right hon. Member for Woodford (Sir W. Churchill) in the past has delivered himself of severe comments on his colleagues but they did not render him incapable of the high office of leading us at a moment of National Crisis.

We therefore fall back on the argument that if the nation is wealthier than it was in those earlier days when the charges were first imposed - and they were imposed at a time of Great National Crisis, the time of the Korean War - this is now the time when the charges should be removed.

However, I am concerned not about Wynward Hall but about the fact that we are losing about 120 teachers a year at a time of National Crisis.

Nor would I. The expression conscription "gives the impression of an element of universality; some sort of sense of fairness to deal with a National Crisis.

Of the many injustices that might arise if the proposals in the new Clause were followed to their logical conclusion, the worst would be that, at a time when there is an acute teacher shortage, parents would be able to buy their children out of a National Crisis and make it even more acute for the other children left in the maintained schools system.

There has been relatively little attempt to make party capital out of what is a Grave National Crisis.

For instance, in times of National Crisis there might be demands for a Government statement and Opposition counter-statement on matters of the moment.

Members opposite frequently say, "We do not believe in the direction of labour except in times of Great National Crisis".

That, too, was a time of National Crisis, a time when people felt very keenly about the economic situation of the country.

This can be the complete abolition of one of the major if not the major purpose of the House, namely, to become a centre, if necessary, of conscious agreement in times of National Crisis, for instance, but at all times to carry on the great national debate on the great issues of the day.

This harks back to the old idea of finding Socialism under the bed, the sort of activity which I should have thought we might well leave to the Prime Minister in times of National Crisis.

The Bill will no doubt be passed by a large majority, but many hon. Members who intend to vote for it must surely be ashamed that, in this hour of National Crisis, they and their party have failed to rise to the level of events.

This is a National Crisis and in a time of national crisis we have to make sacrifices, even for our own convenience.

They appreciate that, at a time of Great National Crisis and economic difficulty, there is here £1 million which might well have stayed in the Exchequer.

They might claim that this was not a National Crisis, but they cannot seriously disagree with the contention that if there is a national crisis the sort of considerations that I have been describing override these more specific ones.

exercise, planned to take over in National Crisis, was used to carry out that undemocratic operation against the Parliament and the people.

But surely the time of a National Crisis, of all times, is a time when the House should be sitting and seen to be sitting to consider the problems facing the country.

I should have thought that we might at least be able to afford to await her return and let her make her own statement of the case for the Government, instead of having the debate in her absence, at a time of Great National Crisis.

It would have been accepted as a possibly good decision, not a decision forced on the Government in order to make still further contributions to getting over This National Crisis.

That is a totally irresponsible and wrong reason for abolishing a service that has served this country well and could form the small nucleus of trained people that we shall require so badly if ever there is a National Crisis.

The facts are there, that this Government, against the background of a National Crisis which we inherited - we did not buy it, we did not even know the strength of it until after we were elected in 1964 and saw the books - this Government have a great and proud record in the regions.

They want the luxury of saying "Cut down public expenditure" in a climate of National Crisis, but they do not want the challege of saying where.

Is it right, therefore, that the Government should have requested them to modify their programmes in the light of the National Crisis?

We could have a National Crisis with fierce controversy in the House of Commons.

So, in the midst of a Great National Crisis, with the country aflame, with everyone having forgotten who these cross-benchers are, what would we hear as the final verdict on such great issues of national policy?

No one can deny that the invidious nature of the proposal for sending people to another place on these terms, whether they abide by the mandates or break them, will face charges of bad faith, particularly at times of Great National Crisis.

My object today is to find common ground - because I believe that that is what the public desires, since the problem is a National Crisis and should be treated as such - and, at the same time - because it is helpful in the endeavour to find common ground - to bring out and not to shirk places where there are real differences of policy.

During that time of National Crisis, with, perhaps, a war going on on the Continent, no one will be here, except the eight men left behind as a cadre when the volunteers go overseas.

Against a background of National Crisis, which we do not deny, we have created conditions in terms of social wage that are a credit to the Government's courage.

Does the Secretary of State agree that according to Erskine May the last time that this happened was at a time of Grave National Crisis in 1944, in respect of fire Orders made in 1941?

I would suggest that it must be unique in the history of these emergency situations for the Government to come down to this House and say, "There is a National Crisis because the talks have stopped" when the union concerned is pleading to be allowed to continue those talks.

] That is precisely what the right hon. Gentleman is doing in the middle of a National Crisis.

I never thought it possible that a Government of this country other than, perhaps, in a period of Great National Crisis, would do anything like this.

This debate therefore is not one of a past series but is the first in a new series in which unemployment is emerging for the first time since the war as a major political issue which threatens to develop into a National Crisis.

It also resulted, on the outbreak of war only a few years later, a war which could be foreseen when that decision was taken, in the country's finding itself desperately short of steel in a National Crisis.

They are problems of National Crisis and they are of national importance.

I am sure that I am carrying the Chancellor with me on this because we are tonight discussing a National Crisis affecting us all.

The Act is so drawn that any tin-pot employer, like Heatons, or any group of workers anxious for their jobs, such as those at Chobham, or any individual, can take a union or a group of workers to court and escalate a local situation into a National Crisis that can bring an industry to a standstill.

No Government must ever put themselves in a situation where they are powerless to act in the face of a National Crisis - and that is where the Government are today.

There will always be in British industry trade unionists or employers, or both, who behave in a way which we might think to be unreasonable, but what is wrong is that they are presented with a scenario in which the situation can escalate into a National Crisis.

We are in the midst of a National Crisis which affects Coventry, the most inland of cities, as much as it does the Outer Hebrides.

No hon. Member can be pleased that we are once again having to discuss emergency regulations in a National Crisis.

On those three aspects of the National Crisis, the Gracious Speech contains not a word about industrial relations and merely platitudinous phrases about inflation and full employment.

Any of these people in their various ways can be instrumental in escalating a particularly local argument into a National Crisis which can cause a major national stoppage, just as the docks strike was caused in the summer by reasons which should not have occurred.

We are saying that the Industrial Relations Act is the wrong kind of instrument, because it provides procedures and rulings by which a localised argument can escalate into a National Crisis.

Yet the Prime Minister wonders why, for the first time in our history, the Government cannot count on the support of the nation at a time of Acute National Crisis - and they cannot.

If the Chief Secretary could persuade his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in this time of National Crisis, to take the very sensible step that was taken by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Stechford (Mr. Roy Jenkins) when Chancellor, and to ensure that in future the interest paid on borrowings could not be set against taxation as an expense, except in cases where that was particularly helpful in the national interest, that would bring down interest rates enormously.

The hon. Member for Loughborough (Mr. Cronin), who is, I suppose, a somewhat fastidious social democrat within the Labour Party, nevertheless committed the solecism of describing our present circumstances asthis time of National Crisis.

The shop stewards said to me "When we have a National Crisis and have to forgo, as a result of the price freeze, an increase in pay that is due to us at the moment, how is it that £250,000 extra profit will accrue to the firm which would not otherwise have accrued?

As it is, it has been blown up into a National Crisis by the absurdity of the Industrial Relations Act.

The issue is whether an incident of this kind should be escalated into a National Crisis.

It would not be unreasonable for people of this country to say "Before you impose this sort of hardship upon us, you ought to try to negotiate a bit further to reach a solution without this sort of National Crisis being created".

I urge the nation to recognise that we face a Major National Crisis, and I urge everyone to respond accordingly.

When they do so we have to go once again through the whole sequence of a tiny legal issue being blown up into a National Crisis and causing disproportionate damage to industrial relations without even the original issue being solved.

It seems absurd at a time of National Crisis - the greatest economic crisis in my lifetime - to debate whether we should spend £100,000 on an imitation Tudor fountain in the centre of New Palace Yard which has had to be reconstructed as a new shrine and citadel for the motor car which we shall not be using much longer because of the economic crisis.

I make no apology for bringing this matter to the attention of the House at a time of Grave National Crisis.

This he has done at a time of National Crisis when he should have been seeking to unify the country.

This is a perfect example of the two nations applied right up to the moment of National Crisis.

surcharge to ensure that the richest in our society bear their share of the burden at a time of National Crisis.

It was almost exactly the wrong mood to have created in a period of National Crisis.

We have debated a number of matters of considerable importance to our constituents, and one recognises at once that we do so at a time of National Crisis But I remind the House that we are resuming one weék earlier than usual, and, if the situation is such that the Government think it desirable to recall the House earlier, I have no doubt that the necessary arrangements will be made through Mr. Speaker.

So far, the Government have given the impression too much that they are using a Grave National Crisis as a diversion, as a means of creating scapegoats, hoping perhaps that somehow the electorate will be persuaded that the Housing Finance Act was created by the mineworkers and the approaching 15p loaf by the train drivers.

We are dealing with a very Serious National Crisis, for which Parliament has been recalled.

In This National Crisis the Opposition have a responsibility.

The point of my speech is that this country faces a National Crisis and this is no time for political debating points.

What possible place isthere for parasitic firms of this kind in what is supposed to be a time of National Crisis?

They resent the way in which the Leader of the Opposition plays politics in a time of National Crisis.

Conservative Members must remember that when working people are faced with a National Crisis, they regard it as a crisis that affects them.

While I would not agree that everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, which seemed to be his message, I believe firmly that in a National Crisis such as we have at the present, if there is one overriding requirement it is that the Government must be seen to deal honestly with the people.

An increase in direct taxes would fall hardest, where it should at such a time of National Crisis, on those most able to bear the burden.

One might conversely argue that it would be wrong that the private sector, in times of National Crisis, should be almost completely exempted from the consequences of direct fiscal cuts while the public sector bore the whole brunt of them.

At the present time of National Crisis it is commendable that this House can look beyond the immediate problems and consider a long-term idealistic measuresuch as the Bill.

These are the things that my constituents are considering today, in the midst of war, and I hope that they will not be lost sight of in the National Crisis.

Even this Government refused to be party to a Government of national unity, despite the Grave National Crisis.

Fourthly, as an essential pre-condition of success in achieving our other three objectives, we must re-create that sense of social unity on which Britain has always had to rely at a time of National Crisis.

A higher rate on such goods at a time of Grave National Crisis could have been a way of raising extra revenue without hurting people at the lower end of the income scale.

It is dangerous for a politician of one party to accuse those of another of party politics, but surely in times of Acute National Crisis one is entitled to expect partisanship to be modified to some extent.

My test is this: how does it meet the requirements of the country at a time of National Crisis?

Gentlemen opposite who realise that we are facing a Grave National Crisis, not just in our perorations but as a matter of reality, have two alternatives if they are real patriots.

It seems to be commonly agreed that we are in a state of National Crisis.

At a time of National Crisis, to have stood at the Dispatch Box and talked of uniting the people, having produced a Budget which will increase the borrowing requirement by £800 million, is a black comedy, a grotesque farce.

I only hope that the Chancellor is tonight regretting that statement because it has undermined his whole position as Chancellor of the Exchequer at a time of National Crisis.

At a time of a National Crisis the existence of which nobody disputes, it is important that a Government should offer a consistent lead.

That is serious enough in many places, but it can hardly be described as a National Crisis.

In the reply given to the hon. Member for Horncastle (Mr. Tapsell) the Leader of the House accepted that the country was facing a National Crisis, as a result of which he called for support from Conservative Members.

We shall be judged after the event not by how many of us gather to shed our tears and beat our breasts but on the amount of money that even at a time of National Crisis, when we are doing all we can to cut down public expenditure, we are willing to give to protect those most vulnerable in our society.

Finally, with the background of uncertainty, this authoritarian arbitrary action by the right hon. Gentleman is taking place at a time of National Crisis and stringency.

Is the Prime Minister aware that his criticism of Mr. Sevareid in his all-too-realistic analysis of Britain will seem extraordinarily complacent at a time of National Crisis?

At a time like this, a time of National Crisis when we need all the concord and amity we can find, this Bill does a disservice to the whole population.

They suggest that at a time of Great National Crisis consensus is required, and that it is the duty of Government to abandon contentious policies in favour of consensus policies.

The Government are also determined to push through their nationalisation proposals regardless of the National Crisis and the national interest.

The Humble Petition of the undersigned ratepayers and taxpayers resident and/or working in Watford and District Sheweth That the health of the nation must have the very highest priority at this time of National Crisis.

The petition reads as follows:To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled;The Humble Petition of the undersigned ratepayers and taxpayers resident and/or working in Watford and DistrictShewethThat the health of the nation must have the very highest priority at this time of National Crisis.

This is a National Crisis and temporary de novo legislation could overcome it.

Even when talking about temporary measures and palliatives, perhaps we should distinguish between those which are necessary now in response to the National Crisis and those which may be necessary as a permanent feature of the economy, particularly in economically deprived regions.

I agree that the whole business of limits started out at a time of National Crisis.

But it might be said that in the early part of 1974 there was something not far short of a National Crisis during the period of the election.

Since nothing would be lost and since we are not in the middle of a Great National Crisis, the debate should be held in the second week.

We accept that at a time of National Crisis there must be some retrenchment all round.

One has only to mention a Major National Crisis affecting the lower end of the housing market and the hon. Member for Salford, East produces his parrot cry.

There has been a National Crisis and it is pointless talking of a specific crisis in universities.

The hon. and learned Gentleman said that there might be some extraordinary situation involving a National Crisis that in the next year could give another place or this place the opportunity not to bring the Bill into effect through the commencement order.

There could be a situation in which the House genuinely thought it right for the measure to remain on the statute book - for example, if the House had not supported the commencment order because there had been a National Crisis or, less dramatically, if the preparations necessary for the creation of the Assembly were not sufficiently far advanced.

Furthermore, I feel that you should be made aware of the fact that reports of 'no teacher redundancy' are inaccurate … Surely education should mean more than ruthless culling of £X to meet demands of our political administration, who seem to have mixed up national priorities … I could understand vicious cutbacks having to be made in social spending in times of National Crisis, but as far as the public is concerned there is no crisis, but this is a deliberate action by a Government which will have far-reaching effects on social standards and morale for years to come".

Furthermore, I feel that you should be made aware of the fact that reports of 'no teacher redundancy' are inaccurate …Surely education should mean more than ruthless culling of £X to meet demands of our political administration, who seem to have mixed up national priorities …I could understand vicious cutbacks having to be made in social spending in times of National Crisis, but as far as the public is concerned there is no crisis, but this is a deliberate action by a Government which will have far-reaching effects on social standards and morale for years to come.

Contrary to what some people believe, that is really what Salmon says - that it is the avenue that should be used in matters of National Crisis and national confidence, and particularly in matters of security.

Is it intended to use the legislation only at times of National Crisis - just before or during war - or as a civil contingency?

Until my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Witney) spoke, I thought that the House was speaking with one voice in a moment of National Crisis, warning the Government and expecting them to act.

This is a Great National Crisis.

The Government have no reason to complain about our response to what is, without doubt, as the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan), a former Prime Minister, said, a National Crisis, or about the support that we have given to them in an intensely difficult and tense situation.

I make no apology for doing so at a time of National Crisis when, between anxious moments, people can derive spiritual refreshment from seeing what is fine and beautiful.

It may have decided on that course of action in the knowledge that a collision with all the major rail unions, at a time of National Crisis and hypertension as aresult of events overseas, may intimidate railway workers out of taking industrial action, which will be inevitable if the board puts forward its package.

Does not the right hon. lady think that it is an outrage that, on the eve of a Major National Crisis such as this, none of her Ministers has seen all the parties concerned?

Wait until there is a National Crisis.

It is part of a National Crisis.

There are plans to deal with the National Crisis.

Incomes policies have acquired a bad reputation in this country because they have always been introduced in the past at times of National Crisis as part of restrictive packages.

1 (Sittings of the House) would breach the longstanding practice of the House to sit on Saturdays or Sundays only in circumstances of National Crisis, and the unanimous decision of the House in 1979 (following a report by a Select Committee on Procedure) to bring forward its hours of sitting on Fridays from 11 a.

I understand, however, that in discussions in the early 1960s the BBC gave assurances that in a time of National Crisis it would, without prejudice to its 393 independence of editorial judgement, act with a full sense of responsibility and in consultation with the Government.

Does my hon. Friend agree that the shortage of physics and maths teachers has now reached the proportions of a National Crisis which is being debated by such organisations as the Royal Society and the Institute of Physics?

This debate follows on from yesterday afternoon's debate and it is worth pointing out, sadly in the absence of any Opposition Members, that the Government have once again been in the vanguard of dealing with This National Crisis, just as they have been in the vanguard of helping old-age pensioners in the severely cold weather that we have experienced of late.

The shortage of short-term rented accommodation is becoming almost a National Crisis.

As it might not be possible to contact shipbroking companies in the event of a National Crisis, might it not be a good idea to consider the strategic implications of the slaughter of the Merchant Navy, as well as its civil implications?

However, as the hon. Gentleman suggested, the overall picture is that we have a mouse of a Bill to confront what I regard as a National Crisis.

If there were a National Crisis, there would be a fallback provision under which a given number of Members of Parliament could request the sitting to continue, but that would occur only in extreme and emergency cases.

If all those 77 people died in one incident, there would be a National Crisis, but because they were single incidents happening on a regular basis, in ones, twos, threes and fours, there is no such publicity.

It is easy to praise them at times of National Crisis, and to forget that in the humdrum preparation for crisis they forgo much of the personal freedom which we as civilians enjoy and exercise.

One cannot help cynically thinking that if there had been such an occurrence in Kent or Surrey it would have been elevated to the status of a National Crisis.

Market forces may provide adequate merchant shipping to meet consumer demand, but who owns, operates and controls merchant ships at a time of National Crisis?

There is a second way in which we are being caught up in the National Crisis.

Clearly the Strangeways riot was a National Crisis.

They have not accepted an iota of the Opposition's argument that we face a National Crisis in manufacturing employment, and that action should be taken at a national level, with the Government accepting responsibility for generating investment, wealth and creating jobs.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, if that had happened in your constituency or in any constituency in England, it would have caused a National Crisis and would have attracted the Government's urgent attention.

That would allow a Government - for example, at a time of National Crisis - to pass legislation curtailing individual rights, but would also ensure that no legislation could be interpreted as breaching the convention unless that was specifically stated.

While huge devastation to the countryside might be acceptable at a time of National Crisis or when there is a critical coal shortage, it is certainly not acceptable when there is a world surplus in coal.

This is not a National Crisis, because there is no national shortage of water.

Yet this morning - how can I put it - the acceptable, human face of the Department for Social Security has told us that we have a Great National Crisis and taxpayers' money has to be shelled out, on a pilot scheme to begin with, to subsidise low pay.

I agree that it is extremely important to show employers that all the time, care and attention that they devote in allowing employees time off to take part in the reservists scheme is reflected at a time of National Crisis and emergency, so that individuals whose skills they have carefully nurtured will be allowed on the field of honour, or as close to it as they are able to get.

Is the Prime Minister aware that the statement he has made today will be greatly welcomed and strongly supported by the British people right across the nation, and that they will have noted with distaste the fact that, at a moment of National Crisis, the leaders of the two Opposition parties have shown themselves incapable of speaking for Britain?

The paper said:Whatever criticisms we have of the Government's performance so far, this is now a National Crisis and Labour's response will be governed by the need to promote the national interest.

That shows that, when there is a National Crisis, it is important that we do not indulge in futile political point scoring.

If, in the event of a National Crisis, the very poorest - because no one will be paid less than the minimum wage - are to bear the entire brunt of that crisis, which is surely the intellectual argument that Opposition Members are making, what will happen to those who are better off or well off?

But here we have a National Crisis and a possible means of solving it, and there is a practical way of doing that if the Minister will take it.

If he is so very convinced of the desirability of an independent Bank of England why, when he set up the new arrangements shortly after the election, did he take care to keep the power to override the Monetary Policy Committee and the Governor of the Bank of England if he thought it necessary in a National Crisis?

On the subject of debate, I believe that you, Mr. Speaker, are aware that, during the summer recess, my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition had cause to call for the return of Parliament, owing to the National Crisis caused by the fuel protests.

] That apparently does not apply in a time of National Crisis.

What is the point of having a Secretary of State who will not appear for a debate on his own handling of a National Crisis that almost brought the country to its knees?

To him, a few teachers on a four-day week at one school is a National Crisis.

I wish to balance what she described as a National Crisis, in which schools would fall to pieces tomorrow, with the fact that that is a relatively minor problem.

It is somewhat cheap to concentrate only on what is apparently a National Crisis, although I shall make some points about its British dimension.

At a time of National Crisis, which this is, the Minister"s real duty is to report to the House at every necessary opportunity.

So the private office - the inner sanctum - of the Minister at the heart of the operation, whom the Government tell us is beavering away on the National Crisis, is giving out special licences with the specific instructions that 17 decomposing carcases should, if necessary, be taken to a hunt kennel.

We have a National Crisis with foot and mouth, and the movement of all beasts has been stopped, except by those who have a special licence.

He must appreciate that we have a National Crisis that affects the whole of the rural community, which has not done very well under this Government so far.

We are without doubt in the middle of a National Crisis, and I believe that it is rapidly becoming a national emergency.

I suggest that the Minister of Agriculture would be well advised to consider taking along with him a senior military figure to advise on the logistics of rapid and efficient co-ordination in a fast-developing National Crisis.

Since we last discussed the matter two weeks ago at Question Time, there is no doubt that we are in the grip of a National Crisis.

As far as I am concerned, taxpayers pay their taxes to deal with a National Crisis.

Those matters that involve burdens as defined by the Bill can be dealt with, though I do not think that it will be enacted, as this cut-and-run Government will clearly announce a general election in the middle of a National Crisis.

We have a national emergency, a National Crisis, with the epidemic of foot and mouth.

However, let there be no doubt that this is a National Crisis that requires a national emergency response and a nation that speaks with one voice.

Does that not give rise to the suspicion that the Government do not yet appreciate that they have a National Crisis on their hands?

We want to continue a bipartisan approach, so far as we can, to what is clearly a Major National Crisis, but it is our duty, as the Opposition, to speak out when we believe things are going wrong and the Government's response is inadequate.

Are not the Opposition jumping on the back of a National Crisis to make political capital?

Given the importance of the National Crisis, the urgent need for steps to tackle it and the constructive measures suggested by my hon. Friend, can he explain why, of more than 300 Labour Back Benchers, fewer that two dozen are present?

Does my hon. Friend agree that bringing in the Army would further emphasise that this is truly a Serious National Crisis?

I suspect that he might have some sympathy with what I am saying, but the Army is not being used in that way because the Prime Minister knows that if it were, the cat would be right out of the bag and people would realise that this is a National Crisis that goes far beyond the regions that are affected.

It would be an absolute scandal if a Government with 14 months of their mandate left, a massive majority and now a National Crisis to add to their other unfinished business, plunged the country into an unnecessarily premature general election.

As many Members on both sides of the House have said, we recognise that this is a National Crisis, and in those circumstances, it is the role of a responsible Opposition to be constructive as well as critical.

Could that be upgraded to a full day's debate so that we can discuss the National Crisis properly?

Did he give Mr. Prodi an assurance that he had no intention of fighting the Great National Crisis that faces this country by dispensing with Parliament and governing without it for four weeks?

In confronting a rapidly growing and spreading National Crisis, it has proceeded like a normal Whitehall committee, thinking that it has all the time in the world.

I fear that the entire tourist industry will soon be hit as This National Crisis develops.

In the face of This National Crisis, with the Prime Minister having recognised at last the contribution that the Army can make, can I encourage him to give it full responsibility in the regions?

] No wonder they do not want to be challenged on the profoundly inadequate handling of a National Crisis.

She invited us all to accept that we were speaking of a National Crisis, then treated us to a party political rant, with posturing and invective.

A National Crisis is taking place and the general public will be staggered to learn that we shall go into recess from 11 April until 23 April and will not be here.

However, I believe that the efforts of the noble Lord to turn what should be a serious debate about containing and reconstructing many areas of the countryside, especially Cumbria, the Solway Firth, Powys and Devon, into a highly political diatribe against the Government is to be regretted at a time of National Crisis.

Will my right hon. Friend take my assurance that I believe that the county should do everything that it can to play its role in helping to deal with a National Crisis?

Other right hon. and hon. Members have referred to the National Crisis that has resulted from foot and mouth disease.

It is perfectly right that the Home Secretary of the day, attending to a Major National Crisis, should introduce emergency legislation to deal with it.

For the hon. Gentleman to suggest that that is evidence of a growing National Crisis is very mistaken.

The hon. Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping) said that there may not be a National Crisis, but, as several hon. Members have said, particular families face a crisis.

It is a great shame that Government Members are playing politics when a councillor is trying to solve a difficult problem in a good local school that is threatened by a National Crisis.

This is a National Crisis that needs national responses; it does not need feigned differences between party policies.

The scenario is that we are facing a National Crisis because the transport infrastructure is unable to cope with daily traffic volumes.

Of course we understand that, in a National Crisis, borrowing limits might have to be imposed.

When the Prime Minister said that he might have lost his job and tearfully informed his family of the great risk that he was taking, I have to say that I began to lose a little sympathy with him, because, with the support that he knew he had from the official Opposition - doing what loyal Oppositions always do in such circumstances in times of National Crisis - he knew that he could count on us.

303WH In times of National Crisis, it is easy to dismiss a highbrow, and perhaps slightly academic, defence of the rule of law.

In times of National Crisis, it is easy to dismiss a highbrow, and perhaps slightly academic, defence of the rule of law.

At times of Great National Crisis, the rights of the individual must be defended with especial vigour.

But I do not believe that this is a National Crisis.

The Emergency Powers Act 1920 has served the UK well in times of National Crisis, but it was last used more than 20 years ago and it has reached the end of its natural life.

Illegal Gypsy encampments of the kind at Minety seem rapidly to be becoming a National Crisis.

Unfortunately, the statistics I used on Report showed that goodwill alone cannot be relied upon during times of National Crisis.

They have given and served at times of National Crisis.

All are important issues and certainly worthy of parliamentary time, but this morning we have the opportunity to focus on something that I truly believe is a National Crisis.

However, when a fraction of the jobs lost in manufacturing is lost in the public sector, it becomes a National Crisis and Opposition Members get out of their prams.

I wonder what avenue I can explore as a Member of Parliament to ensure that hon. Members are fully informed on this matter in what I think you will agree, Mr. Speaker, is a National Crisis over prisoner releases.

It is a National Crisis, which has been occasioned by the Secretary of State.

I introduced a debate on the same subject back in November 2005 when I spoke about the National Crisis affecting community hospital care.

The President, under clause 22(1) of the constitution, has the power to issue a decree or Government regulation in lieu of a law, only when the country is in the grip of a National Crisis.

My Lords, I welcome the presence here of so many noble Lords, and especially noble and gallant Lords, who can speak with authority and passion about a Major National Crisis and a major national scandal.

The hon. Gentleman is right to acknowledge that there is now a regional dimension to the National Crisis that Mugabe has inflicted on his own country.

That history of "mobilising" formed units of men in times of National Crisis has formed much of the reserve force ethos - the concept of training and fighting together that runs deep through any regular or TA soldier's psyche.

The National Crisis around health and obesity requires urgent and concerted action and - credit where credit is due - the Government are aware of this need.

Of course we must speak up for our constituents and respect the principle of sub judice when we make representations on their behalf, but we also have a duty to represent what we believe to be their views and concerns at times of National Crisis.

These are complex issues but they are important for the long-term management of such problems in the future; this is not only a National Crisis.

Can we find time next week for a debate on parliamentary protocol, in particular on the importance of respecting confidentiality when a bipartisan approach to a National Crisis leads to off-the-record briefings by senior Opposition politicians?

However, it is also to support, to assist and to contribute in a time of National Crisis.

At a time of National Crisis, we have a Government who are solely interested in securing their own re-election.

On the radio this morning, I heard the chief medical officer describing obesity as a "National Crisis".

Does the Minister accept that all responsible people will agree with him that however aggrieved people feel, industrial action at power stations and oil refineries at the present time of National Crisis is not the way to take forward any of their arguments?

We have had neither sight nor sound of the Prime Minister's being involved in this matter, and I would not expect that, because he is concerned with a Major National Crisis.

That was due to the National Crisis caused by the foot and mouth epidemic.

The embarrassing truth for the Government is that, during this period of National Crisis, there have been just two debates in Government time on the economy since October - one after the pre-Budget debate last autumn, which was demanded by the shadow Chancellor and thankfully granted by you, Mr. Speaker, and one, as is customary, after the Queen's Speech.

Under that scheme, the work force has access to state aid for employees and companies in cases of National Crisis, and the Dutch Government have decided to relax the criteria to cover the current global events.

That is a National Crisis.

Dementia is a National Crisis and too little is being done to address an urgent need.

Does the Secretary of State agree that at a time of National Crisis, the European Union contribution should relate to reform of the common agricultural policy?

On swine flu, the churches have done a lot of preparation, hoping neither to be alarmist nor retrograde in doing what we are doing but nevertheless making appropriate preparations should there be the kind of National Crisis which some have suggested might come.

The Conservative party did itself a disservice in October last year by not recognising a National Crisis that needed a national response and a national solution.

Let us face it: this schadenfreude is much more widely shared among the public, often with justification, especially in moments of National Crisis that are perceived as being the product of bad government and parliamentary control over government.

Such a role could confuse and undermine National Crisis management, and it is clearly critical to ensure that Governments can respond quickly and effectively in times of crisis, so that needs to change.

This is not a National Crisis: this it still a matter of civil copyright infringement.

The National Crisis that we face may not be as grave as some of those that our two parties confronted together in the past, but it is grave indeed.

On4 April 2001, the Elections Bill went through all its stages in one day, owing to the National Crisis caused by the foot and mouth epidemic.

If there is a Major National Crisis, as in Scotland, and the Hamilton by-election has to be moved from a Thursday to a Wednesday because of a football match, there is at least the freedom to do that.

Given collective Cabinet responsibility and the admission of a National Crisis, I wonder whether you could help us new Members of the House by saying whether, under the circumstances, Cobra should meet.

In response to a question from my hon. Friendthe Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray), he told the Environmental Audit Committee this afternoon: "we took the view collectively in Cabinet that we faced an Immediate National Crisis in the form of less growth and jobs than we needed", in relation to the recent Budget.

At present, as regards competence on this issue, the Commission is requiring member states to set up their national systems as we have under our Banking Act 2009 to deal with that kind of National Crisis.

In just a few days' time, when people think about how to cast their vote, I hope that they will reflect on which parties are acting responsibly in dealing with the National Crisis, and which parties prefer posturing, irresponsibility and the emptiness of eternal opposition.

He was paying off national debt from the Napoleonic wars, which went back nearly 200 years, to a time when, again, there was a National Crisis and a wise Government determined that this country should spend to defend itself.

However, let us suppose that they have a point, that there would be circumstances in which a Government would want a reinforced mandate to deal with a National Crisis and the Opposition, for whatever reason-shortage of party funds or whatever-denied them the 75 per cent majority necessary for a dissolution.

No one now doubts that there is a growing National Crisis.

Let us imagine a National Crisis-for example, a desperate economic and financial collapse in Europe, and political paralysis here at home.

Employers, as we have heard, are generally good people and their track record in supporting the deployment of their workforces to operations is commendable, but we must ask ourselves whether, if such deployments become routine rather than in the event of National Crisis, this willingness to be supportive will continue.

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Stevens, has said that police morale is at National Crisis levels.

I do not see why the hon. Lady should feel that this is not an appropriate way of trying to resolve This National Crisis.

Of course we need more people to come forward to adopt, because we have a huge shortfall, and that is a National Crisis that we need to address.

It is depressing to see Labour Members, who fancy themselves as the next Government - they are very confident, I notice - offering such poor, ill-thought-through and pathetic solutions to a Grave National Crisis.

In January 1965, when paying tribute to the life of Sir Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson referred to, "the sullen feet of marching men in Tonypandy"- a reminder that Churchill, in a long life, had sometimes been at the heart of bitter social conflict, as well as showing great leadership in the times of National Crisis.

At this time of National Crisis for the Philippines, will the Prime Minister join me in calling on the splinter groups of the MNLF and MILF in the southern Philippines to lay down their arms in order that the Philippines army can help the needy throughout the whole of the country, rather than take up arms against rebel groups?

It is obvious to me that if there were a National Crisis, the Defence Council would meet immediately under the Secretary of State for Defence and, if necessary, decisions would be made by that Secretary of State.

Imagine an American appointed to the post of commissioner who finds himself or herself in the Cabinet Office briefing room with the Prime Minister and heads of the security services at a time of National Crisis.

The storm surge has had a devastating impact on many coastal communities, and there is a strong sense in those communities that Parliament has not properly considered what was a narrowly averted National Crisis.

There is a difference between localism that is freedom and localism that is an abrogation of responsibility by Government to fund services during a National Crisis.

” This is a National Crisis.

They know that it extends from being at the front line of a National Crisis, such as the recent floods, to spending hours every week listening to local people and doing what they can to help on matters that may seem minor to outsiders but are of major importance to those affected.

Our plans to expand the reserves are not designed as a direct substitute for regular numbers; they are designed to provide the kind of reserve - the framework for expansion - that would be needed in a time of National Crisis.

There is a National Crisis.

There is a tradition in the House that when there is a National Crisis and our country is in great danger, the Leader of the Opposition comes to Downing Street to talk to, and then support the Prime Minister.

This does not just affect London; the contributions we heard from my hon. Friends the Members for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) and for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) showed us that this is a National Crisis, not just a London one.

It may be that a future Prime Minister would be under intolerable pressure during a time of National Crisis.

I can see what the difference would be in a time of National Crisis.

I will leave the Tory party to its own devices, but there is no doubt that the Labour Party has to sort out its own problems as quickly as possible at this time of National Crisis.

At a time of National Crisis - which this is - we need national unity and that must mean that the Government cannot act alone.

I want the Minister's assurance on consultants, although I understand there is a National Crisis in getting consultants on the ground, particularly in emergency departments.

This is very much a National Crisis.