Desmond Swayne: Would it not be preferable if, as the Opposition amendments state, the Partnership Council did not meet at all?
Desmond Swayne: Does my hon. Friend accept that the council's role is to establish and promote the relationship between the assembly and local government? That is a critical function; the council is not merely a liaison committee that may or may not meet once a month.
Desmond Swayne: I had begun to doubt myself. Having intended to speak in favour of amendment No. 279, I began to have my doubts when I heard Labour Members question my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins). However, I have now returned to my former opinion℄even more starkly℄having heard the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (Mr. Gorrie), who raises every fear that I had about...
Desmond Swayne: I regard it as one of the principal duties of the Committee to remove sources of potential conflict before the Parliament begins to sit. I have read the Bill sequentially without the benefit of a legal education, and my impression of clause 54—and I have pointed out to the Committee before that impressions are very important—was that it gave draconian powers to the Secretary of State....
Desmond Swayne: New Forest, West.
Desmond Swayne: It might not be the Secretary of State's intention to drive council tax up, but is it not an inevitable consequence of aspects of Government policy, such as the rise in interest rates, which has a knock-on effect on local government debt, and the abolition of advance corporation tax?
Desmond Swayne: In what respect does the hon. Lady believe that this settlement will begin to redress the damage to which she refers?
Desmond Swayne: Does my hon. Friend agree that for a band D property those figures translate into £60 a year? That might be only £5 a month, but add the additional mortgage payments of £30 a month, which are also the consequence of Government policies, and the total represents serious money for precisely the sort of families that Labour used to represent.
Desmond Swayne: I shall reflect briefly on what I regard as the inadequacy of the debate. I wanted to explore some of the ideas of the hon. Members for Falkirk, West (Mr. Canavan) and for North Tayside (Mr. Swinney), but we are precluded from doing so by the limitations imposed by the pre-legislative referendum that both hon. Members supported. The Scottish people were told that financial autonomy was not on...
Desmond Swayne: Does my right hon. Friend agree that it would have been useful to explore the issues of hypothecated taxes and Scottish taxpayers' money, but unfortunately that has been ruled out by the pre-legislative referendum, which the Scottish National party supported?
Desmond Swayne: Give way some more.
Desmond Swayne: Shameful.
Desmond Swayne: I just wanted to draw—
Desmond Swayne: I shall not rise, then.
Desmond Swayne: rose—
Desmond Swayne: rose—
Desmond Swayne: I presume, Sir Alan, that I will be in order if I tell the hon. Gentleman why I sat on my hands at the end of the previous debate. The hon. Gentleman's amendments were illegitimate because of the constraints of the pre-legislative referendum, which his party supported. The White Paper ruled out the financial accountability that he desires.
Desmond Swayne: When I used the term "illegitimate" to describe the amendments of the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond), I was being charitable. I might have been tempted to use unparliamentary terms. I described them as illegitimate because the hon. Gentleman is attempting to lead us down a path that it would be interesting to follow, to discuss and to debate—perhaps coming up with a...
Desmond Swayne: The hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the attitude of Conservative Members. We have not questioned the Barnett formula. It has been questioned largely by Labour Members, particularly northern Labour Members. This Pandora's box has been opened elsewhere.
Desmond Swayne: That was the attitude of a Select Committee of the whole House rather than of the Conservative party. I wish to remain in order, to be brief and to concentrate on amendment No. 297, which adds the proviso that the total sums that the Scottish Parliament pays out of the fund in any year shall not exceed the amounts that are paid in. That is an essential requirement to ensure that the...