Mr Alan Clark: Would it not be a good idea, while we are on the subject of advising local authorities, if the Minister had a word with the Minister for Housing and Construction so that there could be a synchronisation of housing plans and the building of primary schools, which are a necessary adjunct to such expansion?
Mr Alan Clark: I know of the concern of the right hon. Gentleman and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for our heritage, so would not the right hon. Gentleman think it appropriate to look at the assessment of grade one buildings in order to avoid placing on them an indirect form of taxation that may defeat much of the legislation that the Government have put before the House to relieve them of burdens that...
Mr Alan Clark: The hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) has been making some critical remarks about the absence of hon. Members representing dockyard constituencies. I sympathise with him, because he was including his right hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Dr. Owen). The hon. Gentleman may have meant to include me, but I remind him that if he cares to consult the record he will find...
Mr Alan Clark: Returning the original Question, surely the excuse for cuts in defence expenditure has been the Government's attachment to the proportion of gross national product. If the GNP goes up, as we are told it will by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will defence expenditure rise in proportion?
Mr Alan Clark: Perhaps the judiciary were taking account of the fact that anyone who has been to Eton has already served the equivalent of five years in prison. [Laughter.]
Mr Alan Clark: Ritual expressions of gratitude and appreciation whenever the Armed Forces are mentioned are, of course, inseparable from any reference to them in the House. The members of those same Services, however, might be forgiven for thinking—I hope I repeat the adage correctly—that fine words butter no parsnips. It has become a habitual practice to refer to them in glowing terms, but the results...
Mr Alan Clark: The question of the record is absolutely fundamental. If greater access to the Criminal Records Office were allowed to employers in cases of this kind, and to the relevant councils that would be charged with the task of issuing licences, these difficulties would be quite easily dealt with. Is part of the hon. Member's argument that improved access to the Criminal Records Office should be...
Mr Alan Clark: How could criminals be prevented from infiltrating the licensing authority?
Mr Alan Clark: The hon. Gentleman does less than justice to the Howard League. Its latest scheme, subsequent to its recommendations concerning sentences, is that incest should no longer be illegal and that the age of sexual consent should be lowered.
Mr Alan Clark: The hon. Gentleman says that the demand for the return of capital punishment is absurd. He knows, however, that public opinion polls show that more than 70 per cent. of the people are in favour of such a move. How high does that figure have to go before we accept that it is the House of Commons, not the people who answer the questions in the opinion polls, which is absurd.
Mr Alan Clark: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that recent cases have shown that the movement of prisoners carries grave risks both to public security and to the safety of prison officers? What new procedures has he authorised to be followed in such cases, and what steps is he taking to ensure that they are carried out?
Mr Alan Clark: Is the Secretary of State aware that the majority of British Leyland workers are engaged not in making the Mini or its replacement but in making obsolete models in the middle range, for which no design is on the books and no significant funds have been allocated for development? Is he not leaving it rather late to explain this predicament to the House and to seek a further enormous tranche of...
Mr Alan Clark: Mr. Alan Clark (Plymouth, Sutton)rose—
Mr Alan Clark: The right hon. Gentleman has not even tried to answer my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine), who asked what criteria are being applied in the dispensation of this patronage, and, in particular, how are the special projects to be evaluated and what guidance is he to give to local authorities prior to their submission?
Mr Alan Clark: I always have the greatest respect for the arguments of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Solihull (Mr. Grieve), but honour is totally irrelevant. We are elected not to discharge debts of honour hut to advance, nurture and protect the interests of citizens of this country.
Mr Alan Clark: The right hon. Gentleman cited the example of Stormont. We in this place will be as Stormont was and in due time we, too, could be ended as Stormont was ended.
Mr Alan Clark: Whatever benefits the North-East may face, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the immediate effect of establishing a factory in that area would be to put 400 people in Plymouth out of work? To shunt pockets of unemployment around the country is a dubious practice at the best of times, but least of all should it be done when the result is to further Japanese economic penetration of the...
Mr Alan Clark: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will introduce legislation to increase parental choice of schools.
Mr Alan Clark: I thank the right hon. Lady.
Mr Alan Clark: This debate comes at a particularly timely moment because it follows less than 24 hours after the Home Secretary gave, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mr. Page) said, a blank cheque to the firemen. The fact is that, in evading their responsibilities of paying a proper wage to the Armed Forces, the Government have got themselves into considerable confusion. The Armed Forces Pay...
