Former Conservative MP for Windsor
I, too, would like to thank the Minister for providing the opportunity for this important debate. I begin by quoting from a statement made two weeks ago: "China is undergoing a process of deep change. In order to effect this change smoothly and without chaos and violence I believe it is essential that there be more openness and greater freedom of information and proper awareness among the...
The Minister is going to detail the four priorities that he identified earlier. In the last five minutes, he mentioned human rights briefly, but can he tell me whether the Foreign Office thinks that human rights should be one of the priorities. If it does not think that they are sufficiently important, why not?
I have a factual question for the Minister. Has a date been set for the visit of the Chinese Premier to London? I do not know if he has already mentioned that, as I was dozing.
The Minister said ''often''. Can he give the Committee an idea of the circumstance, real or imaginary, in which compensation would not be paid?
What the Under-Secretary has been saying presupposes that the courts will be able to sit. Could they be deemed to be an assembly that cannot sit?
May I make a suggestion? There is a blanket prohibition on assemblies of ''specified kinds'', but the problem would be solved if Parliament were deliberately exempted from being a specified kind of assembly.
I support what the hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend the Member for Newark said about the amendment. I do not think that the provision is merely otiose: it is potentially pernicious. We have got into a pattern in recent debates of Opposition Members saying that the wording is not precise enough or too vague. They want to know precisely what is meant and think that it is unwise to have a...
It is a small point, but my hon. Friend should give credit to the Public Administration Committee, on which I have the honour of sitting, for producing a useful draft Bill.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the presidential elections in Moldova; and whether he has assessed this as a free and fair campaign and vote.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the first round of the presidential elections in the Ukraine; and whether he has assessed this as a free and fair campaign and vote.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of (a) the political situation in Belarus and (b) whether the forthcoming elections will be free and fair.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when his Department last made a statement to the House on the sovereignty of Tibet.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the implications for UK aid to Tanzania of Tanzania's decision to purchase an aircraft for its President.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Government of Mongolia over the case of Ms B. Khanddolgar, Editor-in-Chief of the UG newspaper, recently imprisoned for alleged slander; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Prime Minister what action he takes in ensuring that senior civil servants maintain proper standards of conduct while carrying out their duties.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when the Government will issue their response to the ruling of the European Court on Human Rights on the future of night flights at Heathrow Airport; and if he will make a statement.
