- the Near Crisis rate of 5½ per cent.
It should be possible to attract people to these areas which are facing conditions of Near Crisis.
They felt that here was a situation out of hand which would work to the detriment of their children and of future generations, that here was a Near Crisis unresolved which could change their way of life and the very nature of society in their own native land.
For example, I do not know whether hon. Members realise that the present demand on the Committee Rooms is so phenomenal that we are Near Crisis point.
We are now facing a situation in the Midlands when staff shortages and the competition from the private motor car means that public transport, particularly that provided by the Midland Red, is at Near Crisis point.
I hope that the new Minister will not only give serious consideration to the Near Crisis point at which public transport is now arriving but that he will examine closely the whole future of the traffic commissioner system, the independence of traffic commissioners under the 1960 Road Traffic Act, and his own powers in this direction.
I am sure that the right hon. Lady appre-ciates that those are difficulties which often amount to Near Crisis and on occasions produce crisis.
An article in the Nursing Times for 24th January 1974, which the Secretary of State has probably seen, saysThe hospital supply situation, which has been gradually deteriorating in the past few months, is now Near Crisis point.
In yesterday's debate on health and welfare expenditure my right hon. Friend the Member for Deptford (Mr. John Silkin) quoted an article in the Nursing Times for 24th January, which stated:The hospital supply situation, which has been gradually deteriorating in the past few months, is now Near Crisis point.
Surely This Near Crisis is one of the occasions when taxes should be raised.
The rise in the number of applicants since 1988 - from 4,000 to 45,000 - has been so dramatic that in any other area it would be considered a Near Crisis.
What facilities exist in this moment of Near Crisis to allow Parliament to be kept in touch and to give us the opportunity to monitor the situation and have an input as it unwinds?
It is inevitable that, during a Near Crisis, different Governments will have different security priorities at different times.