Mr Gareth Thomas: This debate has been interesting for a variety of reasons, not least because of the bout of in-fighting that broke out on the Opposition Benches following the speech of the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill). I might not be quite as much of an Euro-enthusiast as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Mr. Rammell), but I think it fair to say that most farmers in the United Kingdom are...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood), who is Chairman of the Select Committee on Social Security, of which I am a member. He provided a comprehensive analysis of the inquiry conducted by the Committee. An inquiry and report such as the one that we are debating today offers an admirable example of the good work that Select Committees can do....
Mr Gareth Thomas: My hon. Friend makes a valuable point. A few doctors keep cropping up, time and again. They are very powerful, or are seen to be powerful, which might account for the reluctance to complain. The complaints system is not particularly user-friendly. The rate of successful appeals has traditionally been very high, although I accept that that is not necessarily a reflection of poor medical...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I do not have such evidence. I raise the issue—I do not want to dwell too long on it—simply to rebut the Government's suggestion that, because we could not provide a list of identities of individual complainers, that had somehow undermined our evidence. It is imperative to have a programme of recruitment that ensures that doctors who really want to do this job, and have some pride in...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I speak as someone who has grave reservations about the wisdom of proceeding with the Bill, especially in the light of the fact that the Auld commission has been charged with the task of comprehensively reviewing the criminal justice system. Incidentally, I also speak as a member of the Bar. I tend to support the Government on the amendments. Although many hon. Members have raised valid...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I take on board what has been said. Although I have made broadly positive comments about the clause, the Government should address the following point. Does not common sense suggest that a bench of magistrates will, one way or another, want to take into account the character of a defendant? Even if magistrates do not want to do so, is it not true, given what some uncharitably call the...
Mr Gareth Thomas: Given that the hon. Gentleman is a member of the Bar, I am surprised that he underestimates the courts' ingenuity in getting around such provisions. I draw his attention to new section 19(2)(a), which states that the court can take into account circumstances including the nature of the case. I have a bald question for my hon. Friend the Minister to answer, if he can. Is it his understanding...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I hope that the Minister, who I am glad to see in his place, will agree that although the debate is unambiguously broad in scope, few subjects are more important to our constituents. The state of the economy in Wales has considerable impact on the livelihoods, prosperity, and life chances of the people whom we represent. Indeed, the strength of the economy conditions the amount of money that...
Mr Gareth Thomas: That is a pertinent point. It is even more pertinent that Tory candidates will have to explain to constituents throughout Wales how the cuts will be reflected in public services.
Mr Gareth Thomas: In a moment; I want to develop my point. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor is right to emphasise that we must turn our backs on the years of boom and bust. He is also right to emphasise the need to make tough choices to create economic stability in stark contrast to the years of boom and bust. In Wales, unemployment has fallen to record lows: 40,000 more people are in work than at the time...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I am not sure how that point arises from what I said. I am entirely confident that the National Assembly for Wales, working in partnership with the Labour Government at Westminster, will be able to deliver and exploit the full potential of objective 1 funding. After all, the Labour Government secured that funding for Wales.
Mr Gareth Thomas: Yes, as I know the interest--some people might say obsession--of my hon. Friend in the subject.
Mr Gareth Thomas: It will not come as a surprise to my hon. Friend that, not for the first time, I am in complete agreement with him. I mentioned the minimum wage. In addition, the working families tax credit is helping about 80,000 families in Wales and making a significant impact on many people's quality of life. Pensions are a big political issue throughout the United Kingdom. I am pleased that the...
Mr Gareth Thomas: I agree entirely, which brings me to the Government's proposals for increasing the participation of over-50s in the labour market. I make no apology for dwelling on that subject because I represent a constituency with the highest number of pensioners in Wales and one of the highest in the United Kingdom. No less than 35.5 per cent. of my electorate are of pensionable age. Over the past 20...
Mr Gareth Thomas: That is a very worrying feature and I well understand my hon. Friend's concerns. More than half of people aged over 50 who are now economically inactive receive most of their income from state benefits. The economic cost of that is great, and has a dampening effect on Welsh GDP, which lags quite considerably behind the rest of the UK. The performance and innovation unit recently published a...
Mr Gareth Thomas: Unfortunately, that is not just an economic question, but a political issue. British manufacturing as a whole, although under considerable competitive pressure due to the high value of the pound relative to the euro, is still succeeding. We have a relatively large manufacturing sector in Wales, which, admittedly, has had problems and difficulties recently, but is making a good fist of it....
Mr Gareth Thomas: I propose to make a more wide-ranging speech than those made by other hon. Members. I shall comment later on social security, as I am conscious that the Secretary of State for Social Security will wind up the debate. I welcome the Queen's Speech and the legislative proposals that it contains. However, it must be viewed in the context of the Government's long-term policies that have been in...
Mr Gareth Thomas: The hon. Gentleman makes a pertinent point. We must strike a balance between civil liberties, the need to encourage youngsters to take part in social activities that create a responsible society and the use of the proposed measures, which could be draconian in their effect. I hope that the Government will take that into account, as well as the need to ensure that the legislation conforms to...
Mr Gareth Thomas: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, with which I agree wholeheartedly. I shall be interested in the Government's response. In my constituency, there is considerable interest in the Bill to ratify the treaty establishing the international criminal court. There is increasing interest in international issues arising out of the need to create a safer international community and to spread...
Mr Gareth Thomas: The right hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) has already referred to the need to guard against the dangerous belief that the commissioner will be a panacea for all ills. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that if the commissioner's role is to be as effective as the strategic role envisaged by Waterhouse, it must be more focused? Although we can accept the enthusiasm of non-governmental...
