Andrew MacKay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of measures to combat alcohol-induced crime.
Andrew MacKay: Returning to the business of next week, but not wishing to intrude on the private grief of Labour Members after Prime Minister's questions yesterday, may I call on the Leader of the House for an urgent debate next week on the proposed increases in vehicle excise duty, which will hit families on low incomes especially hard? It is likely to be this Government's poll tax, unless they change...
Andrew MacKay: Does the Secretary of State accept that the biggest traffic management problem on our motorways is the delay in clearing up after often quite minor shunts? That causes terrific frustration, and is much worse here than anywhere on the continent. She has promised in the past to do something about it, but frankly no one thinks that anything has been done to date. Can she give me some reassurance...
Andrew MacKay: indicated dissent.
Andrew MacKay: I want to return to the National Insurance Contributions Bill, which rightly seeks to align the level of national insurance contributions with the level of taxation that people pay. Does not the Leader of the House understand the implications of the previous questions? There is likely to be a black hole as a result of the Chancellor's statement on the 10p tax rate and raising the threshold at...
Andrew MacKay: What his most recent estimate is of the final cost of the Bloody Sunday inquiry.
Andrew MacKay: Let me put it to the Secretary of State that there is no question of our confusing cost and value. We can spot the fact that the process is a huge waste of taxpayers' money. Does he agree that if we had known at the beginning how much it would cost, particularly with legal fees, we would not have proceeded? The process has done a great deal of harm in Northern Ireland, not the good that we hoped.
Andrew MacKay: The Minister has just told the House that the Government's relationship with China is strong and growing. Will she also tell us what action the Foreign Secretary has taken in expressing our concerns to the Chinese Government that that arms shipment should never have been sent to Durban? It was only as a result of the brave decision of the dockers in Durban that that shipment did not go to...
Andrew MacKay: The Secretary of State is clearly right to say that the highest priority is to gain access for humanitarian aid. As it is obvious that the Chinese Government have considerable influence over the dictatorship that is preventing the aid from coming in, should not more be done to persuade the Chinese? Should we not also take bilateral action, with the Secretary of State speaking to the Chinese...
Andrew MacKay: The rightly popular Deputy Leader of the House had the good grace to smile and laugh when she was reading out the Prime Minister's response to the Leader of the Opposition, so I hesitate to ask this question, but I think that I ought to. Should not the part-time Defence Secretary and sometime Secretary of State for Scotland come to the Dispatch Box to make a statement next week because the...
Andrew MacKay: If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
Andrew MacKay: When will the contract for the new carriers be signed, and will there be one carrier or, as rumoured, a second shared with the French?
Andrew MacKay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future role of British forces in Iraq.
Andrew MacKay: NATO.
Andrew MacKay: Right honourable.
Andrew MacKay: Following that totally unacceptable reply to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), may I point out to the Deputy Leader of the House that the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) told the nation on the "Today" programme this morning that he had received absolute guarantees from the Prime Minister that all measures to offset the harm of the...
Andrew MacKay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer What assessment he has made of the level of Government borrowing benchmarked against other major economies.
Andrew MacKay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving violence against the person were recorded in (a) Reading West and (b) Bracknell constituencies in each of the last five years.
Andrew MacKay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will bring forward a proposal for a scheme under which foreign-registered lorries pay to use the highway network.
Andrew MacKay: What recent estimate she has made of the number of illegal immigrants in the UK.
