Mr George Robertson: Is the Minister aware of the widespread concern throughout Scotland about the effect of compulsory sales on the housing stock of local authorities, especially at a time when the Government's expenditure cuts mean that there will be virtually no new council house building and virtually no modernisation of old council houses, leading to a negative growth in council house stock?
Mr George Robertson: Since the Government continue to provide us with the figures relating to council house sales inquiries, will they consider spending some of their propaganda budget on telling council house tenants about the other side of the coin, namely, the additional cost that will be attracted to the council house buyer in mortgages, repairs and insurance? Will he also tell them about the difficulties of...
Mr George Robertson: What should Strathclyde regional council do? Is the hon Gentleman suggesting that it should build the sewerage systems that he considers to be essential, or should it sack the personnel that will be necessary if those sewerage systems are ever to he built at all?
Mr George Robertson: Anomalies.
Mr George Robertson: My right hon. Friend's comment was that in the last round of rate increases the Central regional council—Labour-controlled—had an increase of 17·3 per cent., which was lower than that recorded in the Grampian region, at 18 per cent.
Mr George Robertson: This has been a remarkable day in Scottish politics. This morning there was the Government's humiliation in the Scottish Grand Committee, where they could not even face the prospect of voting for their own proposals. That was followed by this major debate on one of the most far-reaching Scottish local government measures that we have seen. The debate has been characterised by a list of...
Mr George Robertson: I am grateful for this brief opportunity to raise the important matter of the Government's intention to close Callendar Park college of further education and Hamilton college of education and in some way to merge Craiglockhart college of education with some other institution. We have stayed a long time in the House waiting for the opportunity to raise this subject. I am glad to have this...
Mr George Robertson: Planted question.
Mr George Robertson: Although most of Britain's defence needs are by their very nature hypothetical, the need to protect our fisheries and offshore installations is obvious, real and immediate. Will the Minister say whether the Ministry of Defence intends to cancel any future orders for small ships in the coming year?
Mr George Robertson: Has the Leader of the House had an opportunity to watch the actions of his colleagues over the closure of colleges of education in Scotland, inasmuch as the Minister with responsibility for education in Scotland announced in the streets of Glasgow, to students of the colleges, that the colleges were to be shut in June of this year—an announcement made for the first time—yet within days...
Mr George Robertson: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on further progress regarding his intention to close Hamilton college of education.
Mr George Robertson: Does the Minister realise how disappointed hon. Members in all parts of the House will be with his wholly predictable answer? Does he also realise that if he continues with his intention to close Hamilton college of education in June of this year, proceeding willy-nilly with this newly declared intention—disrupting severely, as it will, the studies of many young people in the college, and...
Mr George Robertson: Has the right hon. Gentleman read early-day motion 11, which gives the testimony of some of his hon. Friends to the value of a 10-college system of teacher training in Scotland? [That this House recalls the assurances and pledges given three years ago to the colleges of education in Scotland by Conservative hon. Members, and calls upon the same hon. Members now in Government to re-read their...
Mr George Robertson: I shall make only a brief contribution to the debate. The preface to my speech has been inhibited slightly by the autobiographical travelogue of the hon. Member for Perth and East Perthshire (Mr. Walker). He brought to the debate the same perceptive analysis and deep understanding of the subject that we have come to expect from him. Therefore, no great contribution has been made by him to...
Mr George Robertson: We have to make that assumption. I do not wish to continue to be unkind to the hon. Member for Perth and East Perthshire. I wish to take the debate back to the level established by the right hon. Member for Western Isles (Mr. Stewart). Today we are speaking in London, in the House of Commons, but many people with a deep and serious interest in the future of the Gaelic language will be...
Mr George Robertson: The hon. Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg), with his legal mind, points out that the implication of the Bill is the imposition of obligations, as in any free society. The right is enshrined for the individual in court proceedings, as it would be enshrined for individuals in other matters, such as education. The hon. Member should realise that there are still people in Scotland whose only or...
Mr George Robertson: The hon. Member earlier used the census to one decimal point to prove his argument in support of the hon. Member for Perth and East Perthshire. We must take what evidence is available from the census, and take it with the degree of scepticism or faith that one must adopt when making a judgment. I cannot give figures to the hon. Member. I was simply saying that we must recognise and protect...
Mr George Robertson: The hon. Member has made a fair and legitimate point, which supports the argument that I adduced to the hon. Member for Grantham. Those are the rights of the native culture of the Islands. They are as important and basic as the elementary rights presently enshrined in the unwritten constitution of this country. We are doing no great service to the House if we try to denigrate the rights of...
Mr George Robertson: My constituency interest is as great as that of the hon. Member. There are Gaelic speakers in my constituency. I am a Member of Parliament for a Scottish constituency and a Member of the House of Commons. The fact that clause 1 includes the word "Perthshire", only part of which is represented by the hon. Member, does not give him more reason for pontificating on the subject than I have. He...
Mr George Robertson: It does add something to the Act. I shall not go into detail, because some of the technicalities will be better dealt with in Committee. I intended today to express general support, briefly, for the principle behind the Bill. The irrational responses of the Government to the manifestations of cultural identity can lead people to the wrong conclusions. Over the years, the upsurge of violence...