A draft bill that world outlaw racial discrimination in this country was bypassed without debate in the House of Commons, and a stiff protest against using procedural technicalities to kill the bill was voiced by the sponsor of the measure, Laborite Fenner Brockway.
Mr. Brockway complained to the House that the identical bill, which he has introduced 10 times in the last nine years, has always been pigeonholed without vote, although, in each case, the bill had passed on first reading. The bill, he said, has sometimes reached debate; but, by procedural methods, no vote has been possible on the principles involved.
John Milson, another member representing the Labor Party, told the House that the Brockway draft “has been supported by all denominations in the country and by members of all parties,” and also complained against the fact that no vote has ever been taken on the merits of the bill. Nevertheless, the House adjourned without putting the Brockway bill to a vote.
Harold Wilson, leader of the Labor Party, said that, if his party comes into power, and if the Brockway measure is presented again, a Labor Government would sponsor the bill “and legislate it.” “Year after year,” he stated, “this bill has been smothered by an unfortunate parliamentary practice whereby an anonymous member of the House has only to mutter ‘object.'”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
