Results 1-20 of 5,663 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Alan Beith

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009)

Alan Beith: I hope that the right hon. and learned Gentleman would agree that neither of us wishes to exclude the possibility of finding a way to bring such evidence to bear in cases in which the object is to establish a cause of death. What we have at the moment does not achieve that.

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009)

Alan Beith: I have the utmost respect for my hon. Friend and his judgment, but I actually think he is wrong about this. A number of cases have arisen over the years in which prosecuting authorities, security and intelligence services and in some cases the police have had to make a judgment that proceeding would cause so much harm to the chance of collecting intelligence in future that it was not the...

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (9 Nov 2009)

Alan Beith: There is another complication to the problem, which is not just awareness of the dangers, but certainty that a particular step will not necessarily lead to others that expose the dangers. Although it might prove entirely reasonable to use intercept in particular circumstances, the rules to make that possible do not have to create a situation in which intercept is used in circumstances in...

Olympics: Energy National Policy Statements (9 Nov 2009)

Alan Beith: May I welcome the Secretary of State's well justified refusal to put Druridge Bay in Northumberland back on the list of potential nuclear sites, and, as someone who has campaigned for 20 years ago to get it off that list, assure him that any future Secretary of State who sought to put a nuclear station on such a magnificent and environmentally diverse site will face a similarly intense and...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (4 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Beith: Is the Prime Minister aware that several police authorities, including Northumbria, are using Home Office guidance as a basis for cutting the pensions of police officers who have been forced to retire when they have been seriously injured on duty? On the principle that we should stand by those who risk their lives and face serious injury protecting us, whether in the armed forces or in the...

Onshore Wind Turbines (Proximity of Habitation): [Sir Alan Haselhurst in the Chair] (3 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Beith: Will my hon. Friend give way?

Onshore Wind Turbines (Proximity of Habitation): [Sir Alan Haselhurst in the Chair] (3 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Beith: I was going to put it to my hon. Friend that I was as baffled by the Minister's reply as he was. I am looking around the Chamber, and I believe that it happens that I have spent more time than anybody else who is currently in their place inside GCHQ talking to people there about precisely what they do. I have never met anybody there at any level who did not appear to have been appointed on merit.

[Robert Key in the Chair] — Affordable Housing (Rural Areas) (3 Nov 2009)

Alan Beith: I reinforce what the hon. Gentleman is saying. Before I came to this place I was a rural district councillor in a local authority where members of all parties were entirely united in the view that their priority was to ensure that there was sufficient affordable housing in each village community. That process continued until central Government started to intervene and did not understand the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: RAF Search and Rescue (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Beith: What his plans are for the future of RAF search and rescue bases in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: RAF Search and Rescue (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Beith: I welcome the Minister's decision to reverse a mistaken earlier decision to cut the number of crews. Given the number of occasions on which RAF Boulmer's search and rescue has been put out of action, because of either 12-hour operation or failures, will he give considerable attention to the need to maintain full 24-hour cover wherever possible, and can he tell us what implications that has...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: New Clause 8 — MCZs: duty to manage and mitigate impacts upon existing activities (26 Oct 2009) has video

Alan Beith: May I put it this way to my hon. Friend? It would be irresponsible to designate an MCZ if it was known that it would be open to access to trawlers from other countries, when access to the UK fishing industry is denied. That result cannot ever be seen to be the intention of Parliament.

Oral Answers to Questions — Transport: High-speed Rail (22 Oct 2009) has video

Alan Beith: Will the Minister particularly take into account the negative economic effects on the north-east of building a line only as far as Leeds?

Nato: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (20 Oct 2009)

Alan Beith: It is always a pleasure to listen to the hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins), even when he is struggling with a sore throat, from which I hope he soon recovers. Before reading the Bill, I had a look at the explanatory notes—I usually do it the other round—and found to my surprise that they were full of aspirational comments from the Green Paper of July 2007, stating...