Former MP for Oldham Central and Royton
Will the Leader of the House find out whether the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry noticed the statement last week by Alan Nightingale, chairman of the Apparel, Knitting and Textile Alliance, drawing attention to a large number of methods that other countries are using either to prevent our textiles getting into their countries or to aid theirs getting into our country? Will he also...
This is one of them.
Is the Minister aware that the number of eye tests in the Oldham area dropped by one third last year? Is he aware that even when people are examined, are found to have cataracts and wait a long time for the operation, some of them—such as a 91-year-old constituent of mine—are told that Royal Oldham hospital, which has been granted trust status, does not have the money to provide the...
What about the Leader of the House initiating a system of secondary statements, perhaps next week, so that hon. Members can recall Ministers to the Dispatch Box to correct statements that they made earlier, such as when the Prime Minister told us that he had solved the problem of the repossession of houses? A month later, we find that nothing has been done or achieved. Houses are still being...
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Could you find time to make it clear to Ministers that, if Opposition Front Bench Members were to rise to the taunts that we have heard often today to answer questions, give the Labour party's policy and so on, you would be forced to rule such interventions out of order? They are not here to answer questions. The Government are here to defend their policy,...
Does the Minister recall the remark made by President Yeltsin the other day which so delighted the Prime Minister—that Britain's nuclear weapons were irrelevant and of no consequence in the discussions about nuclear disarmament? Does not that remark demonstrate that we never had an independent nuclear deterrent, as neither President Yeltsin nor anyone else in the Soviet Union accepted it as...
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I raise this point of order as a genuine friend, not a special friend. Question No. 4 to the Prime Minister today was a closed question about May day. Normally, following your reasonable practice, you call a Member from one side and then the other. Therefore, there was an opportunity for those of us who are interested in May day to ask a question....
Next week the Government must give their response to a finding by the European Community, after a three-year investigation, that dumping of cotton and polyester yarn has been proved against Turkey, Brazil and Egypt. During the three years that this has taken to consider, 31 spinning mills have closed, with a loss of 4,000 to 5,000 jobs. Naturally, those who are employed in the industry and...
