Owen Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps are being taken by the Government to have the beef ban lifted as quickly as possible. [2897]
Owen Paterson: Does the Minister understand that the position is now desperate? Yesterday, prices in Oswestry and Market Drayton hit a 16-year low, bumping around the 90p mark. He cannot keep hiding behind the actions of the previous Government—[Interruption.] Can I ask on behalf of my constituents that the Minister takes responsibility and gives us a clear date by which that iniquitous ban will be lifted?
Owen Paterson: I congratulate the three Labour Members on their excellent maiden speeches. The hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr. Beard) was most generous about his Conservative predecessors and talked interestingly about his constituency. I was equally impressed by the maiden speech of the hon. Member for Upminster (Mr. Darvill), who replaced Sir Nicholas Bonsor. Sir Nicholas represented my...
Owen Paterson: Will the hon. Lady give way?
Owen Paterson: There appears to be a contradiction here. The Secretary of State has just told us that this Parliament is sovereign. In future, it may come to pass that a policy laid down by this Parliament is in conflict with a policy decided by the Assembly. If this Parliament can overrule the Assembly, does not that render the Assembly nothing more than an expensive talking shop?
Owen Paterson: I congratulate the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Mr. Ruane) on his excellent, witty, fluent and amusing maiden speech. I am sure that we shall hear more of him, and I am sure that he will not be surprised to hear that I disagree with him. I live not far from the hon. Member's seat, right on the border; my bottom gate is 50 yd from the Welsh border. I have family connections with Wrexham, a...
Owen Paterson: No. I do not want to comment on proportional representation; I want to comment on the White Paper. Towns such as Wrexham did extremely well under the 18 years of Tory rule. I remember going to Wrexham with my grandmother when I was three or four years old. It was a grim place with declining steel and coal industries and no future. Now, there is a kaleidoscopic variety of new industries,...
Owen Paterson: I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I looked the Secretary of State in the eye, which provoked the use of the word "you". That is my final point.
Owen Paterson: Do not presume on the acquiescence of the English.
Owen Paterson: Will the Minister look behind him and comment?
Owen Paterson: If the Government wish to improve information technology in small and medium businesses, would it not be a good idea if Ministers visited businesses? According to a written answer from the President of the Board of Trade, as of 23 July, in nearly three months in government, three of her Ministers—one of whom was the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe—had not visited a single...
Owen Paterson: Further to the first point of order, Madam Speaker. The question was a simple one, based on how many days the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry had spent in her office between 1 August and 5 October. May I have the exact criteria for not answering the question? I understand that national security or excessive cost must be involved. Tracking down the Beckett family caravan surely does...
Owen Paterson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for allowing the deplorable state of the road north of Shrewsbury to be brought to the attention of Parliament. I believe that the matter was last debated in 1817, when Irish Members, exasperated by the road stretching from London to Holyhead, which goes back to Roman times, managed to persuade Parliament to commission Thomas Telford to rebuild the road. He...
Owen Paterson: I thank my hon. Friend for that helpful intervention: I concur entirely with his views. As I said, traffic at Moreton Hall increased by 44 per cent. from 1991 to 1996 and has grown by 5.9 per cent. this year. My hon. Friend is absolutely correct when he says that some minor improvements have made the situation worse. Queen's Head junction was built in 1986 and is a relatively new road, but it...
Owen Paterson: I had a meeting last week with Railtrack and Virgin Rail and am pleased to say that they are planning to bring forward by a year, to next summer, the planned date for restoring daily services from Shrewsbury to London. However, in Shropshire we want both. We want better rail services, but we also want, indeed need—this is the point of my speech—a better road, because certain traffic will...
Owen Paterson: As there is a variation in the incidence of tuberculosis in badgers in the different regions of Britain, can the Minister say whether the Government have any policy on that matter? Farms have been closed—
Owen Paterson: I shall be brief. During my business career, I have travelled widely throughout Europe. I should declare an interest in that I am president of the European Tanning Confederation, I speak a couple of European languages, and I struggle by in English. I draw the attention of smug, complacent Labour Members to the people of Europe. I have been in the Chamber for most of the evening and I have...
Owen Paterson: I apologise, but that was the only geographical reference that the hon. Gentleman gave. In the dying two minutes, I draw Labour Members' attention to the people of Europe. It is horrendous to see powers being taken from them and given to institutions. The people of Europe cannot vote for the removal of those who decide matters that govern their lives. I was in France last year during the...
Owen Paterson: I am sorry, but I am making a desperately serious point. The vote is going increasingly to undemocratic parties that support the sovereignty of nations. The Vlaams Blok is a deeply unpleasant group that has taken 25 per cent. of the vote in Antwerp. Herr Haider in Austria is also attracting a substantial vote. I believe—as does everyone on the Opposition Benches—in a club of independent...
Owen Paterson: In 1992, the right hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) said that, as part of Labour's policy for coal, no more licences would be issued for gas-fired power stations. Why has BP recently been issued with a licence for a substantial gas-fired power station?