THE PARLIAMENT ACT
SIR,—In your leading article of December 12th and in a reference to the proposal to nationalise "the highly efficient iron and steel industry," you write that "if a nationalisation Bill is carried through thiL Parliament, through the amendment of the Parliament Act, there will still be time to repeal it in the event of a Conservative victory at the General Election." What precisely does that statement mean ? The use of the word " repeal " implies that it is an enacted Statute that you have in mind. What, then, is the relevance of the reference to there being "still time" to repeal it in the event of a Conservative victory at the next General Election ? If the nationalisation Bill has actually reached the Statute Book, what room is left for considerations of time, which would. presumably arise under an amended Parliament Act only in regard to a meas. tire for whose passage through Parliament the conditions of that Act had still to be fulfilled ? Or does your statement merely mean that there will "still be time" for another Government to repeal the Act before its operation can bring harm to the industry ?—Your obedient servant, [It meant that there would be time to repeal the Act before it had come into operation at all—En., The Spectator.]
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