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Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: Will the Minister give way?
Dr. Howells: I have almost no time. I will to try acknowledge something that the right hon. Gentleman said earlier.
The right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife raised, as he put it, the lack of substantial achievement during our presidency. He spoke, quite properly, of course, of geopolitics, the new power across the globe—as did my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes), who is absent from his seat—and the rising economic and political power of China and India.
Other Members drew our attention to one of the basic notions that drove forward the growth of the EU, and which I am old enough to remember: there were two great poles of influence—America in the west and Japan in the east—and we would be competing with those great
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powers. There are at least four great powers now. There is no question but that India and China will be very different powers. The right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife drew our attention to the important point that they will be great political powers. How should we come to terms with them? How do we begin to compete, for example in research and development? How do we pool together for the great projects in which we shall certainly need to be involved? Whether in communications or science-based industries, there are big questions and I am sorry that we have not had time to discuss them. They are at the core of what we should be doing in the EU from here on, which returns to the point made by the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks about the Lisbon agenda. We need to concentrate hard on that. If we want a mission, there it is.
I am about to contradict myself. Members spoke about the great single market inside Europe, but in fact it has by no means been completed. I come from the energy sector—try selling electricity to the French, although I would not wish to name a country. Sure enough, the market has been pushed forward, even more starkly so for financial services. In the UK, we excel in financial services and if we were let loose on many of the still highly protected markets in many European countries we would create many more jobs in this country, making economies abroad much more efficient and growing those markets. We must certainly take that forward. The single market in services has only just been completed and the implementation is only just beginning in many countries. We need to consider that.
My hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) raised an important issue. We have been talking in that special Euro language, to which the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) and I have listened so many times. My hon. Friend the Minister for Europe is not in the Chamber; he speaks that special euro language—the problem is that half the time I do not understand a word of it. My hon. Friend the Member for City of York said, in effect, "Hang on a minute. Actually lots of money has been allocated to the new economies in the east but they can't spend it." They cannot spend it because they do not yet have the governance capacity to do so.
The hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd), who is a friend of mine, knows that in its first year the Welsh Assembly was paralysed by arguments about how the European structural and cohesion funding should be spent. That was a difficult issue. The point is important: we are dealing with a great continent where people are at different stages and there are problems of underdevelopment. We must remember that and make careful judgments.
The right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) and the hon. Member for Stone made challenging, thoughtful speeches. The hon. Gentleman said something that was reflected in the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins). He said that we might not be seeing seismic shifts, but that there were shifts in the sand and we were talking a much more pragmatic language. I, too, sensed that during the debate. I was extremely interested, for example, in the idea that we should look at how institutions respond to the great challenges that have been mentioned—whether the growth and influence of
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China and India or our ability to compete in big international markets. We have to ensure that the institutions evolve to meet those challenges.
The hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West is an excellent parliamentarian and debater, but my hon. Friend the Member for City of York put his finger on something when he asked the hon. Gentleman what the Conservatives would have done. What did the hon. Gentleman say? He said that they would have stuck to the Government's policy. That is pathetic. That is the same ancient whinge about the EU—that is all. Look at all the years the Conservatives were in power. What did they do about reforming—
It being Seven o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.
ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT
That Mr Peter Ainsworth be discharged from the Environmental Audit Committee and Mr Tim Yeo be added.—[Rosemary McKenna, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]
ADMINISTRATION
That Mr Patrick McLoughlin be discharged from the Administration Committee and Mr Andrew Robathan be added.—[Rosemary McKenna, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.]
PETITIONS
Herceptin
7 pm
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD): I wish to present a petition, which has been organised by Hazel Bennett and signed by more than 5,000 people in Harrogate and Knaresborough and the surrounding areas, about the plight of women with diagnosed breast cancer who cannot obtain access to the drug Herceptin on the national health service.
Declares that Breast Cancer is a killer disease affecting thousands of women each year and that the life saving drug Herceptin is currently available to patients who are privately treated but will not be available to NHS patients until mid to late 2006.
The Petitioners therefore urge the Secretary of State for health to make Herceptin immediately available to all NHS patients who, in the opinion of their specialist clinician, would benefit from Herceptin.
Royal Ordnance Factory (Puriton)
7.1 pm
Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater) (Con):
I have a petition from the residents of Bridgwater that is signed by 2,500 people.
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Declares that the Royal Ordnance factory at Puriton should not be closed; that the jobs it provides are vital to the Sedgemoor economy and that the plant is vital to the nation's defences.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons call upon BAE and the Ministry of Defence to save the Royal Ordnance factory at Puriton.
Post Boxes
7.2 pm
Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater) (Con): I am sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker—it is a job lot.
I present a petition from the villagers of Westonzoyland that is signed by 490 people.
Declares that Westonzoyland should have post boxes adequate to deal with the needs of 700 dwellings and many small businesses. The Post Office and adjacent post box closed on 23rd September. Since that date there has only been one very small box in Monmouth Road. This is some distance from the centre of the village and invariably full to overflowing with letters long before the collection times. The Petitioners further declare that there is not another box within three miles in any direction and that the village urgently needs at least one large box, conveniently placed to the majority of residents.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to provide at least one large post box in the village of Westonzoyland, conveniently placed to the majority of residents.
To lie upon the Table.
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Community Hospitals
7.3 pm
David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op): North-West Leicestershire is fortunate to have two fine community hospitals. One is in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, which is my birthplace, and the other is a 96-bed hospital at Coalville. A primary care trust review is under way on the future of one specific ward at Coalville hospital, which is the home for numerous patients with chronic mental health problems. Such uncertainty has triggered a local campaign, part of which is this petition.
Despite the present financial pressures on primary care trusts, their community hospitals must continue to play a key role in the provision of mental health services and closures of dedicated wards providing long-term residential care (or their amalgamation with other similar facilities elsewhere) should be avoided at all costs.
They strongly oppose any amalgamation of Coalville Hospital long term care services with Loughborough Hospital and any closure of CCH (Thringstone) Ward 4.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Secretary of State for Health to ensure that there is adequate finance for the continued provision of high quality residential mental health care in local community hospitals.
And direct Charnwood and North West Leicestershire primary care trust to undertake all due consultation with families of patients in local long-term residential mental health care and take into account their needs and wishes in the review of mental health care provision.
The petition has been signed by Pauline Chamberlain, who has worked hard to organise it, and myself, as the local Member of Parliament.
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