Mr George Robertson: My right hon. Friend is entitled to his opinion. If it is his opinion that we would have absolute control over our interest rate policy if we were outside the ERM, I beg to differ. The United States and Japan have control over their interest rate policies, and if we had an economy as strong as those of the United States and of Japan, we would have more control over ours than we do. It is a...
Mr George Robertson: Of course they square up, because although we live in an interdependent European economy, individual Governments can take measures to relieve the plight of their population. The recession in this country is not nearly as bad as it is in the other countries of the European Community and a major responsibility for that lies in the hands of those in this Government who have controlled our...
Mr George Robertson: No, I will not give way at the moment. Are the electorate to be given a whole copy of the treaty —the yellow document that has been waved about so much today—because if so, the purple document would have to go along as well. People would need to make up their minds on all the available information if they are to be asked only about the treaty. Will the question be about the principle...
Mr George Robertson: I do not disagree with the ballot box, and the sooner that we get to it, the better it will be for the country. This Government have been running away from the ballot box for well over a year. The opportunity and the demand have been there, but the Government have had no desire to go anywhere near the ballot box. I have nothing to fear from the ballot box or from the complicated issues. I...
Mr George Robertson: Can I ask my hon. Friend—[Interruption.] Who is my hon. Friend giving way to?
Mr George Robertson: It might have been better to give way to the hon. Lady. Purely out of interest, has my hon. Friend found any industrialist of any significance in Britain who argues for the floating exchange rates to which he refers?
Mr George Robertson: My hon. Friend makes some valid objections to the treaty, but will he bear in mind that every socialist and social democratic party in the European Community is in favour of ratifying the treaty? [Interruption.] And so are all the conservative parties. Only Mr. Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France, the Republican party in Germany and the Lombard Neo-Fascist League in Italy are opposed...
Mr George Robertson: I knew what I was doing at that time, what I was voting for and what was there. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the treaty he will see that his Minister agreed to a protocol at the end of the treaty calling for regular meetings or conferences of the Parliaments of the European Community, so it is going to happen again. We shall just have to wait and see whether the Whips choose the hon....
Mr George Robertson: Surely he did not deliver it at 5.50 am?
Mr George Robertson: No.
Mr George Robertson: I said that the working time directive is particularly relevant at this time in the morning.
Mr George Robertson: It is said, Madam Deputy Speaker, that it is always very handy to have a sense of humour in the House of Commons. After sitting here for 15 hours, anybody's sense of humour—even Benny Hill's—would be stretched to its limits. I should like—not just because everyone else has done it—to congratulate you on your elevation to the Chair. There can be few greater honours in this country than...
Mr George Robertson: I am sure that the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) could give the prospective governor lessons in feathers any day of the week. Nothing that the governor will wear out there will make him look more flamboyant that the outfit worn at 6.40 am by the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross, who used to be my Member of Parliament. Several hon. Members took...
Mr George Robertson: And Ladies.
Mr George Robertson: While looking around at the ratification process in other Community countries, has the Minister noticed that the only other significant European leader to agree with the British Conservative party about the social chapter of the Maastricht treaty is Mr. Jean-Marie Le Pen of the French National Front? Should not the Minister and his party be ashamed of that?
Mr George Robertson: I intrude because I managed to miss my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) from my record of the maiden speeches. I would have said that he spoke strongly and, at 2 am, he commanded more attention than that time in the morning would have suggested. He has a great contribution to make. He defeated Chris Chope, who was at Dundee university with me. My hon. Friend...
Mr George Robertson: I am grateful for the opportunity to intervene in this Adjournment debate. I strongly support my hon. Friend the Member for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall), who spoke with considerable diligence and authority. We look forward to hearing from the Minister. I am interested in the case because some subcontractors employed people in my constituency. They drew my attention to the fact that they were...
Mr George Robertson: Is the Foreign Secretary aware that one of the most worrying aspects in Europe—and worrying to everyone in this House, including my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner)—is the rise of racism, xenophobia and right-wing populism which seems to derive from increasing levels of unemployment throughout the continent? Should not one of the top priorities for the British presidency...
Mr George Robertson: Will the Foreign Secretary face the fact that, in so far as it relates to the United Kingdom, the Maastricht treaty is, to coin a phrase, an opt-out too far? Does he accept that if he abandoned the social chapter opt-out, which would require no renegotiation of the treaty, he could at one stroke benefit millions of British workers and, in addition, give the Danish electorate a signal of real...
Mr George Robertson: No.