The hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton), in his inimitable way, says that he has consulted widely on the orders. He was kind enough earlier in his speech to place on record the Government's thanks to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Perhaps I might place on record the fact that COSLA does not think much of the Government or the orders.

There is something dreadfully predictable about Government statements on housing. I do not know why the Minister, his predecessor or any Conservative Member bothers to try to dress up the sorry story of housing in Scotland so as to make it sound as though the Government were doing something positive. The House is not impressed, people in Scotland are not impressed, and I doubt whether the Minister believes what he is talking about. This evening we have had the usual attempt to present a rosy picture of a package which represents a further cut in funding for housing in Scotland, regardless of the growing crisis of homelessness, overcrowding and decaying housing stock.

I intend to concentrate on the main housing support grant order for 1988–89. The variation order, which we are also debating, simply lops £4·5 million off last year's housing support grant to take account of fluctuations in interest rates, which shows how much the moneylenders make out of public sector housing in Scotland in a good year. For what it is worth, we acknowledge that there is to be an increase in rate support grant in the coming year from last year's figure of £47 million to £55 million. Of course, a significant proportion of that increase is likely to be swallowed by higher interest rates, as the Minister acknowledged. So we have a small increase, but the Government cannot deny that their objective is to do away with housing support grant altogether.