Member

Neither series of meetings reached an agreement, but that was not their value. Their value was that they allowed the party leaders and senior figures in both Houses to come together on the parameters of the direction forward. Although they could not agree necessarily on the details, and the Government went ahead and legislated in the way that they did in both Parliament Acts, they determined the shape of the final outcome. The result was that there was an element—quite a strong element in 1948—of consensus about the legislation that finally passed.