Peter Bottomley: Is that an assertion?
Peter Bottomley: The hon. Gentleman's argument is relevant. A 15 months' delay might occur if the two reviews have to come through together. Does that necessarily mean that once the Westminster parliamentary boundaries are fixed the redrawing of the European boundaries will necessarily take 15 months? Is it not conceivable that they could be drawn more quickly, as they were last time?
Peter Bottomley: Mr. Peter Bottomley (Woolwich, West) rose—
Peter Bottomley: I think that it should be a Conservative Member who first says in this debate that it is clear that the result of the changes that are proposed in the Bill will be one that is likely to help the Conservative Party in the same way as the results of the 1969 decision helped the Labour Party in the 1970 election rather than the 1974 election.
Peter Bottomley: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 2 December.
Peter Bottomley: Does my right hon. Friend agree that those of us who dislike nuclear weapons would be better advised to support multilateral disarmament negotiations, rather than unilateral disarmament, and that perhaps Britain should support the United Nations Association rather than the CND? Is it not better to be like the sheep that says that he will not support vegetarianism because the wolf will not...
Peter Bottomley: It is important to recognise not only the point that my hon. Friend makes but the fact that during the past 70 years the proportion of those getting married for the first time has increased by a drastic percentage. It may be that the quality of marriage has changed. There was a period after the war when the average age of marriage dropped. Perhaps we have stored up trouble for ourselves by...
Peter Bottomley: Does my right hon. Friend accept that this is a limited advance, which in itself is welcome? He is right to go for a two-year agreement rather than a longer one. Will he spell out more clearly what the Government's attitude would be to legislation promoted during the two-year period that would come into effect or give my right hon. Friend powers to bring it into effect immediately after the...
Peter Bottomley: My right hon. Friend mentioned possible dates for recesses. Will he share these possible dates with the House? He will know of my great interest in family policy and that hon. Members with families would like to bring parliamentary recesses more into line with school holidays.
Peter Bottomley: After the passion of the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan), I shall pass briefly over the foreign affairs subjects that I want to mention and then come to some of the points that are relevant to his speech and those of a number of other hon. Members. There is not the time to develop in full my views on the policies that the Government should adopt towards Southern Africa and...
Peter Bottomley: This is the second time today that I have heard that the pound has risen in value faster than pay. Although there are obviously distortions in the figures, my understanding is that pay now is 24 per cent. higher than it was a year ago, although I accept that there has been some backdating, which affects that. If the value of the pound has risen by the same proportion during the past 12...
Peter Bottomley: It is clear that either we are talking about different things or the hon. Member does not know what he is talking about. If he is taking the last few months, will he say whether he supports the Government's success on inflation? If one measures inflation over the past six months, one finds that it works out at an annual rate of 8·6 per cent., which seems to me to be quite an achievement.
Peter Bottomley: The simple point is that either pay settlements matter or they do not matter. The hon. Gentleman's arguments relating to the period since 1976 rely on the increase in domestic inflation, which is associated with the earnings that we have paid ourselves. If he is taking the past year, I was only trying to knock down the example that he used, because this is the second time that it has been...
Peter Bottomley: May I raise a genuine point of order, Mr. Speaker? We have 15 minutes twice a week for Prime Minister's Question Time. One understands the enthusiasm of Leaders of the Opposition to ask four questions. Will it be possible to encourage the Leader of the Opposition to start his four questions towards the end of the quarter of an hour rather than taking up most of the time that is available?
Peter Bottomley: I understand the arguments of principle against any financing for political parties and against any form of indexation. I prefer to come into the debate at a slightly different tangent, to ask whether it is reasonable to pay £290,000 to a political party and to give some help to small opposition parties. It is about £500 per constituency. It seems to me that if we are really fussed about...
Peter Bottomley: Does my right hon. Friend recognise that housing expenditure by local authorities is a balance of income and outgoings? Will he repeat the invitation to the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) to give his view on the decision by Greenwich borough council not to abide by the law and sell homes to those tenants who want to buy?
Peter Bottomley: Is my hon. Friend aware that on occasions drugs are prescribed which cost more through the National Health Service than they would cost privately? At the same time will he look into the question of the supply of spectacles? I am now wearing a pair of glasses which cost $10—£4. Is my hon. Friend aware that such spectacles are commercially available in the United States at a lower price than...
Peter Bottomley: I apologise for the fact that I was not in the Chamber to listen to earlier remarks. Am I right in thinking that if I had a job and obtained a mortgage and then lost my job and obtained supplementary benefit, the Supplementary Benefits Commission would pay the interest on my mortgage, but that if I were out of work and receiving supplementary benefit at a time when I might be able to buy my...
Peter Bottomley: The point made by the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) is that if we, as a Government and a party, are committed to the extension of home ownership, we should ask ourselves whether a continuation of the status quo is right and adequate given our housing and supplementary benefit policies.
Peter Bottomley: Will the hon. Gentleman spell out which part of the schedule has that effect? If he is right, it is a subject to which the House will need to return. It is worth putting the matter on the record so that more hon. Members than are present now can study it.