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Mr. David Kidney (Stafford): We have already heard it said a couple of times today that the production of draft Bills means that certain measures are being kicked into the long grass, but I would offer an alternative point of view. If we are serious about improving the quality of legislation, it is thoroughly desirable that more Bills should be produced in draft for pre-legislative scrutiny and for consultation with people outside the Chamber.
Mr. Llwyd: I shall be delighted if the hon. Gentleman is right. There are two main reasons for a food standards agency. The first is to restore public confidence in the quality of our food and the second is to assist the agricultural industry. I have to say that there is no question of the agricultural industry being able to bear any further costs.
My party has discussed with the Government the fast-tracking of Bills contained in the Queen's Speech via the Welsh Grand Committee and then on to scrutiny by the National Assembly. It is an interesting thought, and I believe that hon. Members will develop the point later in the week.
It is necessary to reform the education system. I hope that the reform will be far-reaching, but I do not accept the concept of super-teachers, which seems rather ludicrous and populist. I submit that every teacher is super. I do not think that I could bear to stand in front of 30 screaming kids all day--I have been asked to mention that by my wife, who is a teacher. Before I descend into a morass of sleaze, I should say that, if we are to have super-teachers, we must surely have super-firemenand women, super-ambulancemen and women, and super-nurses and super-policemen. I am not sure whether the concept will work. No doubt other, more telling changes will be introduced--at least, I sincerely hope so.
Today, I read with considerable interest the 13 indices of the quality of life. Of the 13, six cannot be legislated on under the National Assembly proposals for Wales. It is a great shame that the Government do not propose in the Queen's Speech to extend the powers of the Welsh Assembly to enable representatives to change the quality of life for the people of Wales. When the Government are, in the name of democracy, bent on root-and-branch reform of the second Chamber, it is interesting that there is no reform of the National Assembly to ensure beyond doubt that it can make a difference to the lives of the
people of Wales. That would be an important step forward and would be a pure form of democracy because it would give the people of Wales what they want and what they rightly deserve.
Mr. Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton, North-East):
I agree with the Leader of the Opposition about one thing. Before hon. Members get too excited and sit on the edge of their seats, I should say that I agree with what he said about the second programme of any Government being very important in that it shows a Government's mettle, the direction that they wish to take and the quality of their legislation. I agree with the right hon. Gentleman about that, if nothing else.
I begin my main remarks by referring to the proposals for the House of Lords. I cannot wait for the other place to be disempowered. It is an essential--[Hon. Members: "Disembowelled?"] I pronounced the word with great clarity--I said, "Disempowered." The measure cannot come too quickly. The state of affairs in the House of Lords is an anachronism and an affront to democracy and it certainly should not be allowed in a country that calls itself progressive and forward looking.
What do the Lords do? What have they done? It is worth considering for a moment their recent record of refusing five times to pass legislation. That was an important touchstone for their attitude towards this place. As a Back Bencher, throughout the first 18 months of the Labour Government, I was hearing threat and innuendo from the Lords--that they would delay the implementation of legislation in this place to suit their own ends. That was particularly so with regard to private Members' Bills.
Private Members' Bills represent one of the few tools in the Back Bencher's kit that allow us to make a mark in this place. None was more important than the Bill that proposed the abolition of cruel activities such as those often practised by people who sit down the other end of the Palace--the Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill. The Bill was honourable, well trailed and received tremendous support in this House, yet the message from the other place was "Bring that to our place and we will delay your Minimum Wage Bill for as long as we possibly can." The sponsors and I heard such a message, and, in the end, the Bill had to be put to one side for another day. I cannot wait for that Bill to be reintroduced by a Back Bencher when it has a real chance of succeeding and ending, once and for all, the cruel activities that are practised by a tiny minority and protected by their privileged position in the House of Lords.
Some ask, "Who should replace hereditary peers?" Frankly, I do not think that they need replacing. If we must replace them--it is a fairly absurd notion--to make up the numbers, there is a sensible way forward, on which I shall comment later.
My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. Turner) attempted to steer through a measure on consumer protection, so that men and women in a public house or elsewhere would be able to get what they had paid for: a full pint of beer. That Bill was stopped in exactly the same way--by threat and innuendo. We were told that, if an attempt were made to make progress
on such matters, other issues would have to pay dearly for it. The measure to abolish the rights of hereditary peers in the Lords is the most important of the Session. We must win the argument, and must not fail the people in trying to implement the measure.
If there were a contest about which single measure had increased bureaucracy in the health service more than any other since the inception of the NHS, we would have to agree that it is the preposterous paper chase that the previous Government instituted to fulfil their wishfor some competitive internal market. Even now, the Conservatives have not learned that the NHS is, first and foremost, about quality. The matter is then one of how much the nation can afford and, through this place, how its budget is dispensed. When health authorities in the south of England are spending 7 per cent. of their budgets on invoicing procedures, the procedure must have gone badly awry. In my area, where about 50 per cent. of doctors are fundholders, the paper chase is an utter distraction. Our careful, step-by-step measures to recognise difficulties and variations in different localities will be welcomed--and have already been welcomed--by the medical profession and all those who support it.
I make the general bipartisan point that the country must make progress in respect of welfare. We must first recognise that, for 18 years under the previous Government, people were gently--sometimes violently--pushed on to unemployment benefit, or off unemployment benefit on to sickness benefit, whichever was the flavour of the month and whichever suited the previous Government's statistics. That was particularly so for young people in the west midlands, where we lost 350,000 jobs on the back of an experiment conducted by Lady Thatcher and Lord Howe, who sit in the other place. Their first Budget, which wiped out so much of our manufacturing capacity, led in 1983 to Britain's first deficit in manufacturing exports.
Manufacturing had held the country's head above water for as long as the records stretched; every year, there was a surplus in manufacturing goods. With the loss of jobs and capacity, young people, who had been following their fathers into factories and workplaces as tool makers, printers and so on, were discouraged from entering a career in manufacturing and engineering. Such jobs were thought to belong to a dying trade. It was said that all that mattered were service industries. We now know that, without a vigorous, expanding and well-regarded manufacturing industry, this island is sunk. We must be able to sell in order to buy. We need to sell high added-value goods, such as those we have traditionally been able to produce. Getting back on the track of manufacturing proficiency is our most important task in this Parliament. I noted that we will be bringing forward measures to improve productivity and address competition and other issues, about which I shall say a little more later.
I return to the question of welfare. How many of us, week in and week out in our surgeries, have met young men, and young women, especially, who have told us that they do not have enough money to look after their children, keep their house or do things properly? When they are asked whether they have had a job, they say, "No, I have never had a job since I left school. I was 16 when I left and nothing worked out properly. I went on one or two schemes, but nothing came of them."
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