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Bevin Boys

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones) for giving me an opportunity to speak. The House will know that I have raised the issue of the Bevin Boys on a number of occasions, and have been in regular contact with the both the Minister and the Prime Minister. I am grateful for their responses, although for me they do not solve the problem. I want to say something about the recognition that the Bevin Boys have been given so far. There was absolutely nothing until 1995, when they were honoured by a reference in speeches by John Major and by the Queen. There have been two more instances of recognition, although in my opinion they did not adequately reflect the duty that the Bevin Boys gave. My hon. Friend has already explained the role of the Bevin Boys, but it is important to stress that in the eyes of many, our Government have an unpaid debt to the survivors, and those who are no longer with us. I tabled early-day motion 1417 in, I believe, February this year, and I am delighted that 173 of my fellow parliamentarians—although, unfortunately, no SNP Members—have seen fit to join me in a campaign which, as my hon. Friend said, has been supported by the Sunday Express. The Ministry of Defence has an obligation and, in my opinion, a moral duty to recognise formally that it has a debt of gratitude to each Bevin Boy on behalf of us all. As we have heard, had it not been for their efforts in 1943 and onwards we might well not be having this debate tonight, and as we have heard, their role was vital to our war effort, owing to the dwindling number of miners. These conscripts fought their own battles in the mines and on the streets of Britain, and—as we have heard tonight—they often faced attack and ridicule as draft dodgers because they had no uniforms to wear when off duty. A fair amount has been written and spoken, not least by me, about some of the more famous Bevin Boys. As we have heard—again—they include Jimmy Savile, Lord Rix and, of course, one of Britain’s funniest ever comedians, Eric Morecambe. However, I want to refer to some less famous, but no less worthy, Bevin boys. Fraser Neil is now 80 years old. He comes from Comrie in my constituency. He first drew my attention to the injustice delivered to the Bevin Boys, and rightly described them as ““the forgotten conscripts””. John Etty from Fleetwood is a life member of the Bevin Boys Association. He served from 1945 until 1948, and went on to play rugby league for Wakefield Trinity. Warwick Taylor, vice-president of the Bevin Boys Association and author of ““The Forgotten Conscripts””, works relentlessly to keep the Bevin Boys’ lamp burning. Mr. Pearce from Harrogate has written to me, as well as other Bevin Boys such as the Booth family from Bristol, the Kilmaster family from Hanham and the Young family from Hinckley. Those are some of the families and supporters of the Bevin Boys who understand the importance of this campaign. I want to quote from a poem by Ron Leach from Great Barr, a former Bevin Boy. It is entitled ““The ‘Unsung’ Bevin Boys of World War Two””. Let me briefly paint the picture by reciting a small excerpt:"““Some men helped to win the war""But never marched in lines""A desperate Government made new laws…""To send men down the mines.""Into the pits these men were sent""(Although prepared to fight!)""A conscripted force of ten per cent.""To work where day was night.""From any job in any street""To pit work they did go…""Instead of war and marching feet""Their ‘enemy’ was below.””" It is a very moving poem, and I recommend it to the Minister. Bevin Boys died for their country. In 1945, Winston Churchill asked the Minister of Labour"““What will become of the Bevin boys after the German war is over?””" I believe it is a travesty that 61 years later, we are still asking the same question. Forty-eight thousand Bevin Boys served our country, including at least one Member of this House—perhaps more. I am happy that my campaign has received the support of many surviving Bevin Boys and families of Bevin Boys, as well as that of the Mining Association of the UK, NUM Scotland, UK Coal, Scottish Coal and the current Minister for Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Hoon), whose predecessor was a Bevin Boy. This is not a competition. Armed service veterans are valued and honoured, as is appropriate; I only ask for the same for the Bevin Boys. Members of the land army, including my own mother, are to be applauded for the work that they did in feeding a fighting nation, but they were not Ministry of Defence conscripts, and the Bevin Boys were. The same applies to miners who worked in the industry by choice, including my father, many uncles and my grandfather. Many of them found their way to an early grave by way of disaster or disease. At least they made their employment decisions with a modicum of choice; the Bevin Boys had no choice. For anyone who wishes to get a fuller grasp of issues surrounding the Bevin Boys, I recommend two books: ““The Forgotten Conscript”” by Warwick Taylor, which I see the Minister has with him tonight, and ““A Bevin Boy’s Story”” by George Ralston. When the Minister has finished reading his copy of ““The Forgotten Conscript””, he could perhaps pass it on to other Ministers and officials, as it might well influence their thinking appropriately. The Bevin Boys, sadly, are a dying breed. Many are in their 80s and in ill health. This is the time to act to honour their individual role in the second world war, and the need has never been more pressing. The old ones are the best, Madam Deputy Speaker, and you will recall that I mentioned earlier the fact that Jimmy Savile was a Bevin Boy. I urge the Government to do the right thing by these brave men rather than rely on Jim to fix it.