| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
11.55 am
Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South): I am grateful for the opportunity to make a contribution. I understand the argument about the restrictions on meat and I know that the concerns expressed would be echoed by many in Northern Ireland.
I should like to consider an old problem, the workings of the Child Support Agency. We have already heard today how different legislation passed by the House is not always thought out carefully and that establishing the CSA is one such example. We all agreed that something needed to be done, but, as a result, problems have arisen with the administration of it.
A constituent of mine provided for the family, but then things began to go wrong. Unfortunately, it would appear that the CSA is prepared to listen more to the mother than to the father. It is investigating that man without investigating the mother's statements.
Such problems are coupled with others that I have discovered. For example, when the Benefits Agency says that a child is receiving benefit, the CSA has no alternative but to accept that that individual is a child. That happened in one case despite the fact that the CSA was advised on more than two occasions that the child had left school, although the mother claimed that he was still attending. When documentary evidence was presented to the CSA, it did not follow it through. I have written constantly to the CSA office in Belfast about that case, and it has finally agreed to re-examine it. Surely greater care should be taken in providing child benefit to children who are past the age of normal school education and are not in further education.
I appreciated the contribution from the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten), because it is necessary for the House to tackle the problem of personation at elections. It was thought that it occurred only in Northern Ireland, but we were all aware that it has taken place in England, Scotland and Wales. It is nearly time for the House to provide foolproof identity documentation, rather than leaving it to the presiding officer to make a challenge that cannot be followed through there and then.
As for bad legislation, we had devastating riots in Londonderry last week. I understand that business leaders and the great and the good in the Churches now say that those who organise parades or demonstrations should be responsible for the damage. I ask the House not to go down that road, because it would be a charter for the rioter.
Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire):
I begin by paying a very real tribute to the hon. Member for Belfast, South (Rev. Martin Smyth) and to my hon. Friend the Member for Teignbridge (Mr. Nicholls) for their admirably succinct speeches, in which they both made powerful points.
In my winding-up speech, I shall try to refer to all the hon. Members who have spoken, but I must first point out that it was a couple of nights ago that we had the formal vote on whether we should rise for the recess on Monday. I rather regret the change in the procedures of the House that prevents a vote at the end of this debate, because it would have been good to register a protest.
I object to the fact that we are rising on Monday, not because I mind being here but because it has come about as a result of the Government's inept management of their timetable. We were brought back from the long recess much later than we normally are and now we are bringing all Members--and, more important, all the members of staff who serve us so well and so selflessly--back on Monday for just one day.
I warned the Leader of the House that I would raise the point, so I am not being discourteous. It is a pity that we should go to all that trouble and expense merely because the Government could not get their legislative act together more effectively. I tabled a question to the right hon. Lady
asking what estimate she had made of the costs that will be incurred as a result of the decision that the House should sit for a single day. I also asked whether the figure included an estimate for travel expenses for Members.
I was asked to delete the second part of my question, because a colleague had already asked it. I readily agreed. However, the answer to my question referred only to that second part, saying that it was not possible to provide a realistic estimate of travel costs for one day's travel to and from Westminster. That is nonsense. We need to know what the total cost will be.
I say this in a gentle spirit, because I do not want to spoil the season of good will, but I hope that the Government will get their act together better next year and that we shall move towards a more strictly defined parliamentary year. That would benefit all Members and those who serve us.
The problem is not that Members wish to be on holiday early; many of us will have to abandon the Christmas visits that we like to make to places such as residential homes, prisons and hospitals. This year, many of us will not be able to do what we would like to do in that regard.
The debate began with a plea, in a powerful speech by the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox), for the banning of asbestos in all its forms and ended with a plea for the abandonment of the ban on beef on the bone. I hope that the comments of the hon. Member for Tooting, based on much investigation and experience and on his work in the Council of Europe, which is greatly appreciated, will be taken to heart by his colleagues on the Front Bench.
As for beef, I hope that, during the season of Christmas when, I trust, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will have a happy time with his family and some pleasant meals, he will reflect on the enormous damage that he has done by his precipitate action and panic measure.
Every Member who decides to smoke sees a warning on the cigarette packet when he or she buys one. We know that there is a risk. I recently tabled a question relating to the 120,000 people who died from smoking-related illness in 1995. The risk associated with beef on the bone announced in the House a fortnight ago is infinitesimal. We are not even sure there is a risk--yet, as a letter to one of the papers said yesterday, we have reached the ultimate nanny state in which our meat is to be cut up for us. That is nonsense and the damage that is being inflicted by not allowing people to choose is out of all proportion to the risk. A great industry is being put in severe jeopardy.
My first reaction on hearing the announcement of the ban was to ring my wife and instruct her to ring our butcher and get as much beef on the bone into our deep freeze as possible. I am glad that she did, because I am now told that those of us who have beef on the bone in the deep freeze are allowed to exercise our judgment as to whether we eat it. Incidentally, I wish that the Prime Minister had presented me with the 15 lb piece of beef that was delivered to Downing street the other day instead of putting it in the dustbin.
Beef is an important issue. Many other important issues have been touched upon. My right hon. Friend the Member for South-West Surrey (Mrs. Bottomley) talked about appointments to various health service trusts. I have never believed that people should be appointed to public bodies on the basis of their political beliefs. It is a great
pity that, over the years, we have departed from the system under which a Conservative Government appointed Alf Robens to run the National Coal Board and a Labour Government sent Sir Christopher Soames as ambassador to Paris. In each case, the Prime Minister of the day chose the man best suited to the job.
My right hon. Friend cited a number of people she appointed to health service trusts when she was Secretary of State. She mentioned Baroness Jay, Baroness Hayman and several others. It is a great pity, to put it no higher, that the Government now appear not only to have embarked on a purge of those who were previously appointed, but to be so cavalier in their attitude to those people's public service that they learn about their replacement through telephone calls from their successors. That is not acceptable.
I have a great belief in the ideal of public service. Public service should be encouraged wherever it is found. I do not mind what the political affiliation of a man or woman appointed to a public body is so long as that person is dedicated to public service and is willing to serve. Purging the health service of those who have given a great deal will do it a great disservice.
I shall say little about the speech made by the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice). I am sorry he is not in his place now. I do not like to be unkind, especially at this time of year, but in my notes I wrote that here we had a prig being sanctimonious. In his absence, I say to the hon. Gentleman that I hope that if he ever finds himself in any trouble, personal or any other sort, he is treated with a little more charity than he displayed this morning.
I do not know all the rights and wrongs of the Aitken affair. Jonathan Aitken was and is a friend of mine, although I find some of his apparent actions incomprehensible. To presume guilt and condemn someone on the Floor of the House before we know whether charges are to be preferred is an abuse of the privileges of the House.
The hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) explained to me that he would not be in his place for the winding-up speeches because he is attending an important meeting of his party. He made a splendid speech, as he always does on such occasions, in which he made a plea for a co-ordinated energy policy. He made no apology for plugging coal and I hope that when the Minister replies he will give some encouragement to the pilot scheme for which the hon. Gentleman argued with such understandable passion.
I shall refer later to what was said by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), but first I want to comment on the interesting speech made by the new, or rather the re-elected, hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten). It would be churlish not to congratulate him warmly on his decisive victory, and I do so without reservation.
The hon. Gentleman brought to the attention of the House in a most appropriate manner the shortcomings of our petition system. As he said to me privately after his speech, he would have been more than happy not to have taken his seat had we had a system for investigating petitions quickly. I think that we should have such a system.
The hon. Gentleman also touched on the problem of personation, as did the hon. Member for Belfast, South. Most of us prefer not to recognise that problem, but we should recognise it and the points that he made should be taken to heart. I thank him for raising the issue and I hope that action will be taken.
The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Stevenson), who is a fellow Staffordshire Member, referred to the problem of compensation for people who face the loss of home or business because of road building and other public works schemes. A number of motorways have been proposed for or put through my constituency, so I echo his remarks. I hope that the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions will take note of the hon. Gentleman's points.
I cannot begin to touch on all the matters raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess), who took us from Kyoto to suicide via vitamin B6, Cyprus and the Palace theatre, Westcliff. If he can produce such a veritable tour de force in 10 minutes, he should be at the Palace theatre, Westcliff. I hope that he will repair there during the pantomime season.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) made an important speech, as did my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham. They were both concerned about natural justice to Members of the House who find themselves in difficulties and the need for a proper appellate system. As I said when I wound up the debate on the so-called Hamilton affair, I believe that we should examine these matters most carefully.
It is no criticism of any of the individuals involved, still less of Sir Gordon Downey, to say that what has happened recently leaves a lot to be desired. Although we have not yet come to any absolute conclusions, the comments of my right hon. Friend about an appellate body have much to commend them. My personal view--I do not speak for my party--is that a group of three or four distinguished former hon. Members from the various parties, who know the ways of the House, presided over by a former Speaker, might be a good appellate body. We must come up with something, because we should not leave matters as untidily as they have been left following the Hamilton affair.
All I would say to Mr. Hamilton is what I said in the House a few weeks ago. I hope that he and all those with whom he comes into contact will recognise that the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, for all its imperfections and for all the imperfections of its report, made it plain that it would not have recommended expulsion from the House. I hope that he will derive some comfort from that, although I find some of his actions difficult to understand.
The hon. Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) spoke with authority about building societies and the concept of mutuality. It behoves us all, especially Conservative Members, because we have done so much to further the property-owning democracy, to realise that our efforts would not have met such success were it not for the building society movement. There is a continuing place for that movement.
My hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Mr. Loughton) talked about the impact of potential housing development in West Sussex. Anyone who has the privilege of representing a rural area and who
values the importance of the green belt knows how crucial it is that insensitive development does not swallow up the finite resources of our beautiful countryside and fine farmland. My hon. Friend has the great good fortune of having a beautiful constituency and I well understand why he feels its vulnerability and feels obliged to speak as he did this morning. He has my full support.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |