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Mrs. Beckett: That is an ingenious suggestion. I am sure that, somewhere in his comments, the hon. Gentleman meant to welcome the restraint that has been shown by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales--and, indeed, all those in the Cabinet--in taking substantially less than the pay to which they are entitled, unlike, I fear, the Leader of the Opposition. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that, when my right hon. Friend says that he will not take any more than the salary that other members of the Cabinet are drawing, that is precisely what he means. As to the suggestion that my right hon. Friend should draw the rest of it and give it to charity, I just wish that I thought that Conservative Members would take that at face value if he did.
Mr. Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield): May we have an early opportunity to debate Home Office proposals to restrict trial by jury? Will the right hon. Lady arrange for the Home Secretary to come to the House to give a statement, especially in light of the fact that, as late as
February 1997, he was saying that such proposals were not only wholly wrong, but short-sighted and likely to prove ineffective?
Mrs. Beckett: We have already done that; there was an answer to a private notice question yesterday. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has made his position plain. He has said openly and honestly that that was the view that he expressed in 1997, that he has given the matter further consideration and that he has changed his mind. He has dealt with one of the main anxieties at that time--that there was no appeal against a decision about the form of trial--so the matter is plain. While no doubt the matter can be raised from time to time during Home Office affairs, there is no reason for extra time on it now.
Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes): I should like to know when we are to have the statement on GM crops and GM food. I suggest that it should be sooner rather than later given that the Government's policy is unravelling at a rate of knots. Will that statement deal with the biotechnology presentation group--the spin unit--which no one had heard about until yesterday? Will the right hon. Lady give an undertaking that the terms of reference, dates of meetings and minutes of that spin unit will be published for all to see? Will she give a categoric assurance that, contrary to the implication in that leaked letter, there will be no attempt by Ministers to alter in any way, shape or form the recommendations from the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser?
Mrs. Beckett: First, there is no such thing as a spin unit. Secondly, the hon. Gentleman asked me to insist that there will be no attempt to interfere. If the hon. Gentleman read the leaked document, he would see that it says plainly that there is no attempt by Ministers to interfere or even to appear to interfere. All that is intended is that there should be as clear a presentation of policy as possible. Clearly, that is much needed so that hon. Members such as the hon. Gentleman do not continue to insist that our policy is unravelling in the face of a letter which says quite clearly that the policy is correct.
Mr. Paice : Will the right hon. Lady reconsider this business of genetically modified crops and have a full day's debate, not just a statement, whenever that may be? The responsible Minister could then account for why the document to which we have just referred says that the
- "revised draft should be cleared by a future meeting of the presentation group."
- "Obviously I could have written a shorter letter by just saying that I agreed with this sentence, right from the start!!"
Mrs. Beckett: The Minister for the Environment has said precisely that.
Mrs. Beckett: He has said that. I am sorry, but if the hon. Gentleman did not hear him, that is his problem. I shall come back to whether he has put a date on it. On the issue of why the matter should be cleared at a future meeting by people such as the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser, it is precisely in order to ensure that what is said is accurate, is in no way misleading and is scientifically sound. I do not believe that Ministers in the previous Government did not have proper and sensible arrangements for ensuring that what was said was agreed and sound. If they did not, it certainly accounts for the perceived incompetence that they displayed for so long.
I have read the last paragraph of the letter--I have read the whole letter. In the last paragraph, the chief scientific adviser says that he could have agreed with that sentence about GM crops "covered by this research." The reason for the previous page to that letter is that he points out that there are more GM crops to be considered than just those covered by the research. He says that there is no point in having a simple date or a simple moratorium--such as that being called for by some campaigners--because some GM foods might require longer periods of experimental evidence and others might require shorter periods. The request is irrelevant and a waste of time. He does not use those words, but he makes it clear that there is no scientific justification for saying, "Let us have it on that date." I cannot imagine how anyone can read his letter and read into it anything other than that.
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham):
Last week, a written answer gave a brief account of the outcome of the ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency. As the Leader of the House will know, that was the first such ministerial meeting since 1995. I hope that she will find time for a debate on space policy, which is so important for British industries. We need to know the Government's thinking and plans on space policy, but have not had an opportunity to debate the matter since they took office.
Mrs. Beckett:
I do not remember precisely everything that we debated in our first year in office, but think that the hon. Lady may well be right to say that there has not been a major debate on space policy for quite some time. I understand the interest in the matter. She might try to work it into the debate on the global navigation satellite system--in European Standing Committee A, should she care to attend. Nevertheless, despite understanding the issues' importance, I cannot undertake to find time in the near future to debate them in the House.
Madam Speaker:
Mr. Bercow, I want no sedentary comments.
Mr. Oliver Letwin (West Dorset):
In the light of the Prime Minister's repeated failure to give clear answers on the Government's willingness, or otherwise, to hold a referendum before they have established clear rules for referendums, will the Leader of the House make time for either a statement or, preferably, a debate on the question whether the Government will guarantee not to hold any referendum until they have implemented the draft legislation that they are promising to bring before the House?
Mrs. Beckett:
I am not aware of any confusion on the matter; the Government have always made the position clear. We established the Neill committee, and we take its recommendations, which we are studying, very seriously. In due course, we shall come forward with proposals and--undoubtedly, if it is required--with legislative change.
Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire):
The right hon. Lady declined to give the apology for which my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir G. Young) asked in respect of yesterday's rather shocking episode about the statement on jury trial. She said that we had an apology yesterday. May I respectfully point out that what appears in column 1066 of Hansard is certainly not an apology to the House? Will she make such an apology? It really is deeply regrettable that such an announcement was slipped out in the way that it was. Will she also have a word with the Prime Minister and tell him that what the Government need is not an enforcer but a plumber?
Mrs. Beckett:
I have never come across a Government who did not need plumbers. As for the apology, I simply said that it was my understanding that, yesterday, the House received a very full apology from my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary. Again, I remind the right hon. Gentleman and the House that the matter was dealt with and a statement was made to the House in a written parliamentary answer. Of course, if there are those who feel that there was insufficient opportunity to debate the issue, that is always a matter of concern. However, yesterday, Madam Speaker did the House the courtesy of finding time to raise it by granting the private notice question.
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