Desmond Swayne: I should like the Minister to consider paragraph 2(a) of article K.2, bearing in mind that the treaty requires that such joint operational activity should take place within five years. To what extent would a joint operation undertaken by Europol and British police forces be accountable to the House through the Secretary of State for the Home Department? If activities are undertaken by Europol...
Desmond Swayne: Who is affluent? How does the Prime Minister intend to encourage affluence at the same time as testing for it—or is that just another hoax call?
Desmond Swayne: The Committee should be aware that the effect of amendment No. 19A is to make a frightful situation worse, albeit not half as bad as the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) would make it with his recent conversion. The amendment would increase the number of representatives who effectively represented no one but the party hacks who had placed them on the list. Yesterday,...
Desmond Swayne: Thank you, Mr. Martin. The amendment would increase the quantity of inadequate representation and would, therefore, give the assembly, from its inception, a democratic deficit.
Desmond Swayne: Does my hon. Friend accept that although there are much tighter definitions of the division of powers, they still give rise to disputes between the Länder and the federal Government? We are warned by the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. Morgan) that we are Jeremiahs and that there is no slippery slope, but in fact there is a slope that will be greased continually by hon. Members below...
Desmond Swayne: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Desmond Swayne: rose—
Desmond Swayne: Does my hon. Friend agree that amendments Nos. 46 and 47 potentially arrest the process by providing an escape mechanism; a means by which powers can be taken back where necessary? The thrust of some remarks has been that this is a one-way process. The amendments that we have tabled are a solution to that.
Desmond Swayne: While it may be entirely appropriate to trust the assembly, will the hon. Gentleman trust the Welsh people by at least allowing them a further referendum to discuss what he evidently believes was missed out in the last referendum?
Desmond Swayne: It would have been better if the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Mr. Öpik) had regaled us with the philosophy that he learned at university, rather than such sophistry. It is extraordinary that the process of recent government—the previous Administration were as guilty as any other—has been such that we are increasingly becoming a bureaucracy. Orders in Council and other legislative...
Desmond Swayne: The principal grief that afflicts farmers in my constituency and throughout the kingdom is the current valuation of the pound, which is a direct consequence of the Government's interest rate policy. Until the Welsh assembly has its own interest rate policy or its own currency, or until we all share a European currency, there seems little point in handing over responsibility for agriculture,...
Desmond Swayne: It was deliberate.
Desmond Swayne: The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Livsey) presented an entirely one-sided picture when he spoke about a Wales in which hundreds of thousands of people were thwarted by geography and engineering problems and unable to satisfy their demand for Welsh television. Perhaps I could set the record straight by relating the experience of my family, which is as Welsh as any of those who...
Desmond Swayne: How many of the United Kingdom's remaining dependent territories receive development assistance; and if she will make a statement. [23858]
Desmond Swayne: There seemed to be a note of menace in the Foreign Secretary's remarks, reported at the weekend, urging dependent territories to adopt our practice and expand their range of sexual experience. Who is in charge of the budget? Does the Minister believe that it should be transferred to another Department? Mindful of the fate of the cities of the plain, is he prepared for the Secretary of State...
Desmond Swayne: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Desmond Swayne: I shall endeavour to follow the example of my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Mr. Prior) because I wish to be brief in speaking to amendments Nos. 63 to 66. In so doing, I shall not state my principal objections to the system that is to be introduced, because I feel that I dealt with them thoroughly on Second Reading. It would not be appropriate to bring those issues before the...
Desmond Swayne: I confirm the first point that the hon. Gentleman makes. I am quite at ease with the fact that the voter does not need to understand the complexity of the d'Hondt formula, but that is precisely the system's weakness. The voter is not considered in the allocation of votes to secure his representative. The hon. Gentleman has drawn attention to the weakness of the system. In that respect, I...
Desmond Swayne: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Committee will have difficulty covering the issues in the time available even if only legitimately elected, mandated representatives speak? If a Committee must take account not just of evidence that it calls, but of co-opted members who sit on it as of right, its proceedings are likely to go on for ever.
Desmond Swayne: The question that occurs to me is whether the Auditor General is the servant of the assembly or of the Crown. From clause 90, it would appear that, as he is appointed by the Crown and can be sacked by the Secretary of State—albeit with the approval of the assembly—he is a servant of the Crown. However, under clause 91, he is to be paid by the assembly. I am not sure whether one can—or...