LAURENCE DALY, 1924 - 2009

Early day motion 1673, tabled 15 June 2009 by Michael Clapham (Labour). Signed by 60 members.

That this House pays tribute to the late Laurence Daly, former General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers between 1968 and 1984, who died aged 84 years on 23 May 2009; recognises that he was a supreme advocate for the miners and that his presentation of their wage claim before the Wilberforce Enquiry in the 1972 dispute won the day for them and earned him extensive respect across the trade union and labour movement; notes that he distinguished himself as a leader of the 1974 miners' strike with the then President of the Union, Joe Gormley, which resulted in the three-day working week and culminated in the 1974 general election that returned a Labour government to power; acknowledges that he was a gregarious man who missed the social life and camaraderie of the close Fife mining community from which he came; and calls for an appropriate acknowledgement for this remarkable son of the radical tradition.

Signatures by party: Labour 55, Independent 2, DUP 1, Liberal Democrat 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.