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Sir George Young: The House is grateful for next week's business and for an indication of business for the days after the Easter recess.
I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for responding to our request to change today's business, so that the House can debate the crisis in Kosovo. Will she make arrangements through the usual channels to find another day for the debate on defence in the world, which was scheduled for today? Can we have regular statements from the Government on the action against Serbia? As this is the last business questions before the scheduled Easter recess, will the Government make arrangements to recall the House if the situation requires it?
Will the Prime Minister make a statement on Monday on the Berlin summit, so that the House can assure itself about the security of the rebate negotiated by Lady Thatcher? Will there be a statement next week by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the much delayed White Paper "Modernising Government"? There is still a backlog of promised debates: on the royal commission on long-term care; on reform of the House of Lords; and on the national changeover plan for the euro; and we still have not debated the crisis facing the European Commission following the publication of the audit report. When might the House begin to make a start on those?
Finally, we expect a date for the Second Reading of the Finance Bill very shortly. Can the House be reassured that the financial memorandum and any associated press releases will contain clear, transparent information about
the Bill; and that the Chancellor will deny himself the smoke and mirrors that he used on the Budget, which got him into such trouble?
Mrs. Beckett:
To begin where the right hon. Gentleman ended, I know it is not easy to follow all the details, but I did give a date for Second Reading of the Finance Bill: Monday 19 April. Of course there will be clear and transparent information about the contents of that Bill and of the Budget. I cannot guarantee in any way, shape or form that Opposition Members will like it, as it shows how well the Government are doing, but the information will be there.
I take on board the right hon. Gentleman's observations about the various debates that the Opposition would like to take place. I know that time passes quickly, but it does not seem so very long since the announcement about the royal commission on long-term care. However, we shall bear in mind the requests for debates on that and other subjects.
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he said about the arrangements for today's debate on Kosovo, which will be timely for the House, and of course I undertake to reinstate, at a suitable opportunity, the debate on defence in the world for which it has been substituted. The Government will endeavour to keep the House informed and will bear in mind the right hon. Gentleman's view that if events require it, a recall will be considered.
The Government's intention is that the Prime Minister will make a statement, probably on Monday, on his return from the Berlin summit, and that there will an announcement to the House within the next few days on "Modernising Government". The right hon. Gentleman will appreciate that those plans may be affected by our need, which he pointed out, to keep the House informed about other matters. However, the Government intend to make both those statements to the House next week.
Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West):
Has my right hon. Friend noticed the unwelcome re-emergence of fat cats, in the shape of Mr. Jan Leschly, the chief executive of SmithKline Beecham? He is already on a salary of £2 million a year, and has today been awarded an additional salary and bonus of £91 million, bringing his earnings this year to £93 million. That company continually pleads poverty and claims that it needs to overprice its products to fund research. Is it not right that we stop that robbery of the health service by pharmaceutical companies and seek a debate and a decision on a new windfall tax on those companies?
Mrs. Beckett:
My hon. Friend will have just had the opportunity--if he caught your eye, Madam Speaker--to raise those matters during Trade and Industry questions. I understand his feelings about the sums of money that he describes. The Government are keeping that matter under review in the aftermath of, and following our monitoring of, the recommendations of the Greenbury report and others.
Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall):
May I express our appreciation to the Leader of the House not only for ensuring that we had a speedy statement on Kosovo last night, which the whole House thought necessary and desirable, but for the change of business today?
Will the right hon. Lady consider the Government's growing tendency to make important announcements during the recess? The next recess will be short, so will she tell her colleagues that the House should first be informed about important Government statements on matters such as the Neill committee legislation, the Office of Fair Trading report on supermarkets, milk marketing and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, and long-term care of the elderly, rather than those statements being made during the recess? I am sure that all those matters would be best reported to the House rather than announced by press statement.
Mrs. Beckett:
Obviously, I am not fully aware ofall my right hon. and hon. Friends' plans about announcements that might need to be made. To pick out one of the examples that the hon. Gentleman gave--the Neill report--my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry published a consultative document only today seeking views on those recommendations. That suggests that on that matter and some of the others that the hon. Gentleman mentioned, announcements may not be as imminent as he anticipates.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle):
May we have time in the near future to discuss the closure of the Polestar print works in my constituency? Twelve months ago, I was approached by Mr. Richard Warner, a director of the parent company, who asked me to support the takeover of the company because it was being examined by the Office of Fair Trading and the Department of Trade and Industry. The takeover was agreed, and this month the company announced the closure of the plant with the loss of more than 200 jobs.
The work force believe that they were lied to at the time of the takeover and I am sure that I was lied to at that time. I want a debate so that we can discover whether the DTI was lied to, whether the Office of Fair Trading was given wrong information, and whether there is any possibility of the Government prosecuting the company for providing false information.
Mrs. Beckett:
I share my hon. Friend's distress, and that of the constituents to whom he referred, at the events that he outlined. The fact that people feel, rightly or wrongly, that events have been manipulated to produce an outcome and that they have been misinformed is one of the things that makes dealing with merger policy particularly difficult. I fear that I cannot undertake to find time for a special debate on this matter in the near future, but my hon. Friend will have noticed that I have announced the pre-recess debate, in which, if he is able to catch your eye, Madam Speaker, or that of the Deputy Speaker, he may have an opportunity to raise the matter.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield):
I support my right hon. Friend the shadow Leader of the House in his request for a regular update on the situation and operations in Kosovo and Serbia. Does the right hon. Lady accept that that is important because it will counter any propaganda that is likely to come out of Serbia, which could mislead people who are deeply concerned about this operation?
Secondly, will the right hon. Lady ask a Minister of her Government to make a statement before we rise for the Easter recess on the problems facing much of
manufacturing industry as a result of the banana war with the United States? The Government have indicated--the Prime Minister himself did so--that the cashmere industry would be compensated for loss of business. I am sure that the right hon. Lady is aware that many other sectors of manufacturing have been adversely affected--not least the candle industry. Candles from one company that are worth £50,000 have been sent back from US borders. Will she arrange a statement in order that the Government can compensate and deal equally and fairly with all industries that are affected?
Mrs. Beckett:
The Government will indeed endeavour to keep the House fully informed about events in Kosovo, as I think all hon. Members recognise that we have.
The hon. Gentleman asked for a pre-recess debate. I remind him also that there will be a pre-recess debate on Wednesday. He will be aware that there was a debate--I believe--on Monday, in which these issues were aired. He knows that I share his concern for the fortunes of the manufacturing industry. I am confident that my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Department of Trade and Industry are doing everything that they can to take the right steps.
Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North):
In view of the publication yesterday of the House of Lords Select Committee report on radioactive waste management and the significant implications for future public expenditure--billions of pounds--as a result of its recommendations; considering that in this and the previous Parliament there was no debate on this major environmental dilemma; and in view of the enormous sensitivity of many of the recommendations in the report; will my right hon. Friend find time in the very near future for a debate on these extremely important matters?
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