Bill to prevent discrimination against women fails to reach second vote
This week in 1973 and angry MPs set up a chorus of protest when William Hamilton’s Bill to prevent discrimination against women failed to reach a second reading vote in the Commons. Faced with rows of Opposition MPs demanding a vote – and a public gallery packed with women supporters of the Bill – the Government acted quickly to defuse the issue. James Prior, Leader of the House, offered Hamilton and Labour Whips talks to see whether time could be found for a decision on the Bill. The MPs were angry that for the second year running they should be denied the opportunity to vote on the Bill.
In other equality news and the Law Lords decided that private clubs were outside the provisions of the 1968 Race Relations Act and could, provided they had a proper selection procedure, continue to discriminate on the grounds of race, religion or colour. The House of Lords ruling by a 4-1 majority, overturned a High Court finding against East Ham Conservative Club, London, who refused a membership to Mr Amarjit Singh Shah (27), a postal worker and an active member of the Conservative Party, on the casting vote of the club chairman.
Also this week and production of Concorde, the cost of which was now £970 million, was expected to slow down and concentrated at only one centre – Bristol or Toulouse – following the Pan American and Trans World cancellations of 13 options on the airliner. Either action was expected to lead to substantial redundancies. In Britain some 23,000 workers, with 300 firms, were involved with Concorde. Some 9000 were directly employed in the UK.
And after four days of fierce clashes throughout South Vietnam, the fighting appeared to be subsiding with the Government side speaking of fewer threats by the Communists. South Vietnamese High Command sources said the Communists appeared to be concentrating on holding action designed to leave them with a maximum amount of territory when the international control machinery started functioning.