Stewart Hosie: There would be no displacement effect thanks to weaker legislation; we are proposing tougher legislation. I suspect that if there were displacement, and I doubt there will be, it would go the other way. Such crimes tend to be geographically specific; one would not travel from Dundee to Coventry to fire an air weapon. One would fire it where one had it. The proposals would effectively...
Stewart Hosie: The Minister suggested that guns could be transported between Scotland and England if the legislation was not uniform. Of course, that is true. I suggest most respectfully, however, that railways are also devolved, and that trains move between countries. It is not a particularly strong argument.
Stewart Hosie: The hon. Gentleman's point is well made. The Minister suggested that non-uniform legislation might lead to a loophole and to guns being moved across borders, but we are suggesting tougher, not weaker, legislation in Scotland. I hope that all hon. Members recognise that. In light of what various hon. and right hon. Members have said, however, it would be foolish to press my amendment to a...
Stewart Hosie: The hon. Member for Huntingdon made a number of points, but I fear that he overstated his case. He mentioned Dunblane, and suggested that handgun crime had increased. The raw statistics in the UK may indicate that, but there is no universal trend. After the 1997 Acts came into force, 6,500 large-calibre handguns, 1,700 small-calibre handguns and some 144,000 rounds of ammunition were...
Stewart Hosie: I am slightly concerned about the enforceability of the first three subsections of new clause 9. Outside every large all-ticket international match or domestic fixture we see people holding up tickets for sale. Only two weeks ago, before the Dundee United v. Rangers match at Tannadice, there was a queue of people looking to buy or sell tickets that reached my constituency office. The current...
Stewart Hosie: I welcome the internet provisions, but the problem is the practicality of enforcing the law when tickets are sold on the street within view of a police officer in front of the stadium at every major all-ticket match. People buy and sell tickets simply to gain access to football grounds. The law is not being enforced. I have witnessed it on hundreds of occasions. How does the Minister intend...
Stewart Hosie: The Minister has said that the Scottish provision is more narrowly drawn. She might not be aware, but it is useful for her to know, that there is ongoing debate in Scotland to the effect that it should be widened to all public sector workers and, as has been suggested here, to those who serve the public in different circumstances.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much businesses have received under the research and development tax credits scheme in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in each year since they were introduced.
Stewart Hosie: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Stewart Hosie: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Stewart Hosie: On the broader point of making Europe more and more competitive, particularly in relation to the United States, labour mobility should be encouraged and supported. Our concern should be driven mainly on levelling up trade and professional qualifications, rather than trying to debar skilled, talented and enthusiastic workers from not only the UK but the rest of Europe, not least to fill...
Stewart Hosie: Does not the hon. Gentleman see those two accession states, and others, as an opportunity for his farmers in Shrewsbury and their quality produce, as I view it as an opportunity for farmers in Angus and in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Angus Robertson)? Why do the hon. Gentleman and his party always see these things as a threat and not, even on one occasion, as an...
Stewart Hosie: rose—
Stewart Hosie: I appreciate the comments on history, but I am sure that many of my colleagues and many Labour Members will have attended, within living memory, fringe meetings at party conferences with SWAPO members, Sandinistas or people from Kurdistan. Such events are also highly likely to happen next year or the year after. It is not all ancient history. Would applauding someone from the Sandinistas or...
Stewart Hosie: Will the Minister make it clear that the objective is to charge people with the criminal offence of trespass under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and not to create a new terrorism offence of trespassing on designated protected sites?
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much businesses received through (a) collaborative research and development, (b) transfer networks and (c) knowledge transfer partnerships in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) Scotland in each of the last 10 years.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2005, Official Report, column 889W, on expenditure and revenue in Scotland, what further information his Department would need to collect to produce a breakdown of aggregate (a) revenue and (b) borrowing by country and region.
Stewart Hosie: Has the hon. Gentleman given any consideration as to whether evidence gathered during 90 days of detention, with close questioning that might last up to 18 an hours a day, might be acceptable in a court of law?
Stewart Hosie: We discussed this matter at the meeting on Monday with the Home Secretary and his team. Members seemed broadly happy that the Government were going in the right direction. By and large, we were satisfied by the inclusion of intent and recklessness and the removal of negligence, and the subsequent amendments whereby actions had to be emulated by individuals and the content of information...
Stewart Hosie: Is the fundamental problem here not that the Bill would criminalise us because we implied something, but rather that we might be found guilty because someone else inferred something from us? Is not that the fundamental weakness of the legislation?