Brian H Donohoe: I am coming to that, but he does not care a damn. That is clear, given what I am about to say. The USC Dundonald situation is a murky affair. It leaves unanswered a lot of questions about the way some businesses are allowed to operate. For instance, did Diesel seek a winding-up notice on USC as a result of unpaid bills, as claimed in some reports? That is an answer that I need this afternoon....
Brian H Donohoe: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, whose constituency neighbours mine, as does that of my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson). I thank them for their support. I do not see any difference between the cases referred to, which is why there is a need to examine the law to protect workers in such circumstances. It is blatantly obvious that that does not happen now....
Brian H Donohoe: I agree with my hon. Friend wholeheartedly. I spent most of the Christmas period attempting to contact the company, and I was treated with total and absolute contempt.
Brian H Donohoe: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. The Scottish Affairs Committee is about to call that company to book, or has already done so, and has approached me to ask whether to call Mr Ashley to the Committee for what he has done to the company for which he is responsible. Do we agree with the BBC’s 2009 quote from a self-confessed asset stripper that the law in such...
Brian H Donohoe: I agree. Glasgow Rangers is an institution, and some 25% of the population of Scotland follow that team. It is wrong that that individual should be allowed anywhere close to the team. As I will request of the Minister in a moment, I hope that the SFA gets to the bottom of this and does not allow him further into the club’s business. Will the Minister set up an inquiry into the affairs of...
Brian H Donohoe: I cannot believe what the hon. Gentleman has just said. At a time when submarines from Russia are going up the Clyde and tankers from the same place are at the top of Scotland, he is trying to tell us that we should not have a deterrent. That is absolutely unreal. The idea that we should find ourselves defenceless in those circumstances is a crazy notion.
Brian H Donohoe: Was it not the case that the right hon. Gentleman’s boss, the Prime Minister, said that he would balance the books by 2015?
Brian H Donohoe: rose—
Brian H Donohoe: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At exactly 9.44 this morning, a member of my staff received an e-mail telling me that the First Minister would be in my constituency exactly 61 minutes later. I understood that there was a convention, certainly in this place, which ensured that if a Minister or another Member of Parliament was coming to my constituency, I would be given good notice of the...
Brian H Donohoe: indicated assent.
Brian H Donohoe: One of the most ridiculous things about the tax is the fact that local authorities and local housing authorities were told that they had to build houses with two bedrooms. There are no one-bedroom houses in my constituency for rent, so how can people move in those circumstances?
Brian H Donohoe: The Leader of the House came here in 1989, and I came in 1992, and during my 22 years this place has been full of anomalies. Only yesterday I was told by the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Nadine Dorries): “This has nothing to do with firefighters in Scotland”.—[ Official Report, 15 December 2014; Vol. 589, c. 1157.] But the debate had everything to do with Scotland, as a...
Brian H Donohoe: Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Brian H Donohoe: One of the most important aspects is the safety of the public. If a 60-year-old comes to my house and he is unfit, I am not sure that I want him to deal with a fire.
Brian H Donohoe: With crude oil now below $70 a barrel, will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us why that price is not reflected at the pumps?
Brian H Donohoe: I understand that the Smith commission has written to a number of companies asking for their views on the question of what should be devolved. Companies in my constituency are telling me that if Scotland were to be given some of the powers that are being considered, they would leave Scotland. Is that good or bad?
Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual recruitment figure to the Army from Central Ayrshire was in each of the last five years.
Brian H Donohoe: I am beginning to see why my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr Love) raised the question of the number of amendments and what they entail. I worry about how that will be interpreted by whoever happens to be a trustee of a pension fund. It will cost an inordinate amount of money, will it not?
Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Army recruitment offices have been closed in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in the last 12 months.