If it were really true, as the Labour people suggested, that a Parliament elected under conditions which they thought did not produce a true representation of public opinion, and supporting a Government which they utterly distrusted, was no protection against this country being hurried into war without their being able to stop it—if that were true, it would be a strong case, and I can conceive that men might legitimately say, "Here is a Terrific Crisis; we must take a terrific remedy".

If that is so he is asking the House of Commons to vote completely and absolutely blindly, on a matter affecting the lives and livelihood of many tens of thousands of people and to vote blindly on a matter of transport on the eve of a Terrific Crisis.

The Opposition had been saying that there was a Terrific Crisis facing the nation.