Robert Walter: I congratulate the right hon. and hon. Members who have succeeded in securing this debate, but may I start by busting one myth? We have heard the mantra, "These are unelected and unaccountable judges." I am not sure that I can recall any elected judges in this jurisdiction or in most other jurisdictions. Judges who are unelected are not that unusual. However, the judges in question are...
Robert Walter: I am delighted that my hon. Friend has raised that matter, because the next point that I was going to make was that a sub-committee vets the candidates. My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) is one of the members of that sub-committee who successfully rejected a slate of three candidates put forward by Portugal four months ago, and Portugal had to go back to find some...
Robert Walter: I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. What he describes would be a logical and proportionate way to proceed, but many prisoners had no fixed abode before they came into prison, so where would they then "reside" or have their vote registered? Withdrawing from the convention would be counter-productive, if not dishonourable. I appreciate that the Hirst ruling has raised...
Robert Walter: I am not a lawyer and would defer to the Attorney-General for a legal answer. As an hon. Member said earlier, "We are where we are"-I think we have to go from that particular point. We need to put all this into perspective. Since the convention came into force, Russia has faced more than 1,000 adverse judgments; Turkey has had more than 2,000, 228 of which were in 2010 alone; Poland has had...
Robert Walter: Sadly, I have only 30 seconds left, so I shall not. The reform process that several hon. Members have mentioned is under way. It refers to subsidiarity and is very clear. The Interlaken process, which was started in Interlaken last year, will be continued in Izmir and I hope that the Government will support that when they take over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.
Robert Walter: I am doubly disappointed, because the Minister did not give me prior notification of a court closure in my constituency. The closure of the court at Blandford means that residents of Dorset will have access to justice only on the coast. Residents in the expanding towns of Shaftesbury and Gillingham will not be able to get to Weymouth before 12 noon, and will have to leave by 2 o'clock in...
Robert Walter: The national security strategy yesterday and the Prime Minister today both emphasised cyber-threats and communication. The Prime Minister will be aware that there is tri-service training in communication and information systems at the defence college at Blandford in my constituency. The 3,000 people who depend on that for their jobs will welcome the Secretary of State's announcement this...
Robert Walter: I welcome the Secretary of State's statement on the low-carbon economy, particularly his commitment to offshore wind. In the beautiful Blackmore vale in my constituency we face yet another application to erect wind turbines. The only business case is the subsidy paid for those turbines; the wind blows barely 20% of the time. Will the Secretary of State confirm that it will still rest with the...
Robert Walter: I present a petition in the name of the Blandford community hospital in Dorset. The petition states: The Petition of Mrs Jacqueline Stayt and Mrs Josephine Seath, residents of the North Dorset community and others, Declares that they are concerned about the future of Portman Ward at Blandford Community Hospital, Dorset. The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the...
Robert Walter: May I welcome the Home Secretary's statement and express some surprise at the shadow Home Secretary's attempt to defend the practice that has been ruled illegal? I remind the House that, in 1949, the United Kingdom was the architect of the Council of Europe and the European convention on human rights. Members who represent us at the Council of Europe have been embarrassed over the past few...
Robert Walter: I welcome the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe to the Front Bench. I think that I speak for the whole House-or certainly for this side of the House-in saying that we now have a very strong team at the Foreign Office which will stand up for the United Kingdom's interest in Europe as well as the UK's interest in the wider world. It is with some sadness that I say I am speaking...
Robert Walter: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and I shall come on to the role of European scrutiny committees in that respect. He may know that his colleagues in the French Parliament have already suggested that something similar to COSAC-the Conference of European Affairs Committees-of which the hon. Gentleman has been a member, should be involved in the process. The Assembly of the WEU...
Robert Walter: I am pleased to hear what the shadow Foreign Secretary is saying, but could he explain to the House why under his Administration the funding for the Council of Europe-and, implicitly, for the European Court of Human Rights-was basically frozen, while he allowed the European Union to spend hundreds of millions of pounds creating a fundamental rights agency that has nothing whatever to do with...
Robert Walter: The flotilla, which was probably doomed to fail, was an expression of the frustration of ordinary people at the failure of the United Nations, and in particular of the Quartet, to get Israel to comply with its UN obligations. The Foreign Secretary has had conversations with Mrs Clinton. I understand that he is also meeting the EU High Representative. Does he believe that between us we can...
Robert Walter: I represent the constituency immediately to the north of the one represented by the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke). I welcome what appears to be the Government nudging closer to a decision on Poole harbour bridge, but I am concerned about what will happen to other local infrastructure, especially given the regeneration that is likely to take place. Some 25 miles...
Robert Walter: I was a member of the Health Committee that spent two weeks in 1998 in Australia and New Zealand hearing the life histories of hundreds of former child migrants. I must say that those were two of the most harrowing weeks of my life just hearing their stories. The Catholic Church in Australia, some 10 years ago, led the apologies from the receiving agencies, and a number of others have done...
Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future of Blandford Camp; and if he will make a statement.
Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department provided to the South West Regional Assembly in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; how much funding he expects to provide to the South West Councils/South West Strategic Leaders Board in 2009-10; and what estimate he has made of the reduction in his Department's expenditure in (i) 2009-10 and (ii)...
Robert Walter: The petition relates to the Government's response to the parliamentary ombudsman's report on Equitable Life. I must declare an interest as a policyholder in the Equitable Life Assurance Society. As such, I might enjoy a financial benefit if the petitioners were successful in their endeavours. The petitioners, who are my constituents, are policyholders in the assurance society, their survivors...
Robert Walter: This has been a very good debate with some excellent speeches, particularly on Afghanistan. I do not want to dwell too much on Afghanistan save to say that in May I was in Kabul visiting ISAF headquarters and Afghan Ministers. Having previously been in Kabul about two years ago, I came away very depressed by the deterioration of the security situation in the area-it had got significantly...
