Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will impose a full economic embargo on the Iranian regime until such time as it halts its progress on building an atomic bomb.
Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will ask Ofcom to investigate the practices of the companies Telecom Billing Services and Persolvo Debt Collection with regard to charging for telephone services.
Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether her Department's recent announcement concerning kitchens in new schools will apply to those schools approved for construction, but not yet constructed, before the announcement was made.
Brian Binley: If he will make a statement on Iran's nuclear programme.
Brian Binley: Given the concern that the Foreign Secretary refers to, especially about recent statements, do the Government still rule out discussions with groups opposed to the Iranian regime, even though internal regime change remains an option that could considerably reduce the implied threat?
Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to (a) the US and (b) the EU to remove the Mujahadin-e-Khalk (PMOI) from its list of debarred organisations.
Brian Binley: The Minister knows that I am a member of a county council, and he also knows about the problems that pensions create for local authorities in terms of council tax rises for all of our pensioners. Will he give me the real reasons behind the announcement on pensions for the public sector, because his earlier explanation did not help? The announcement seemed to have a great impact and the...
Brian Binley: I want to be sure that I know what the hon. Lady means when she talks about the instability of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Is she referring to the situation when Mr. Healey, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, increased interest rates to 27 per cent. because of the borrowings from the International Monetary Fund?
Brian Binley: Will the hon. Lady give way?
Brian Binley: My sincere apologies, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Brian Binley: I thank the hon. Lady for her kindness. I had hoped, however, that the debate would not descend into party-political point-scoring. I honestly feel that it is not helpful. Speaking as a secondary modern school boy who left school at 15 and has all the classical working-class attributes, I consider the hon. Lady's remarks to be particularly unhelpful to those who did work for a living. If she...
Brian Binley: You are very kind in giving way. I understand what you are saying about the people whom—
Brian Binley: I am indeed, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I understand what the hon. Lady is saying and she is speaking for such people particularly well, which is appreciated. I am not sure, however, that her defence of them is an argument against the Bill proposed by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Sir Malcolm Rifkind). In what way are her observations an argument against...
Brian Binley: Like my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell), my colleague in a neighbouring constituency, I, too, would like to present a petition on behalf of the IsItFair campaign: The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons votes to replace Council Tax with a fair and equitable tax that, without recourse to any supplementary benefit, takes into account ability to pay from...
Brian Binley: Does the Leader of the House ascribe the recent discord in the Cabinet on smoking to the fact that we have a fag-end Prime Minister? Will he call on the Prime Minister to set an early resignation date so that cohesion and some form of leadership can be restored?
Brian Binley: I am most grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. You mentioned that you would pay particular attention—
Brian Binley: My right hon. Friend mentioned that the Front Bench would question the 90-day rule very seriously, and indeed the glorification point. I support the council for resistance in Iraq, and I do so consistently. Will he therefore accept that part 1 of the Bill makes a nonsense of some of the Secretary of State's words and needs amending enormously?
Brian Binley: No work is being done on the competency or professionalism of registration staff. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that needs addressing, too?
Brian Binley: My concern lies with the quality of electoral registration staff. In general, the staff tended to stay in office for a very long time some years ago. When there was perhaps a man who had worked for 30 years whose assistant had worked for 10 years, the quality of the staff was very high indeed. That length of service has ceased to exist in many electoral registration offices, but the Bill...
Brian Binley: May I thank the right hon. Lady for gladdening my heart? I fear, however, that she has depressed many of her colleagues, and I wish her well in the battle ahead. In relation to local authorities, I was particularly interested in the phrase in her statement, "They will oversee competitions to deliver new schools." I hope that that will gladden my heart, too. Will she explain that statement a...