Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether the other members of the European Union have adequate monitoring standards for food imports entering the European Union but destined for the United Kingdom.
Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: What measures they propose to prevent the import of food products for personal consumption.
Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: Which body is, or bodies are, responsible for monitoring imports of meat and meat products into the United Kingdom.
Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: What was the budget of the body or bodies devoted to monitoring the imports of meat and meat products in each of the years 1990-2000.
Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: How the United Kingdom's system of monitoring meat imports compares with the Swedish and Danish systems; and whether United Kingdom resource devoted to monitoring meat imports exceed Swedish and Danish resources, both absolutely and as a proportion of government expenditure.
Viscount Cranborne: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will ask importers to pay for the costs of monitoring meat imports.
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. I had wondered whether I might raise the same point with him. As there is clearly some disagreement on all sides of the House about the procedure governing Wednesday debates and how government business takes priority on certain days, will the noble Lord consider referring the matter to the Procedure Committee for examination...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, with the leave of the House, the noble Lord the Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms is quite right that what concerns me is the rights of Back-Benchers. But given that, rightly or wrongly, I wanted to make the point by putting down a Motion, it seemed perfectly reasonable that the Motion I should choose should be one that concerns me greatly as well as other Members of the House. The...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord the Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms for the restrained way in which he administered his rebuke. The last thing in the world I want to do is to offend the noble Lord, for whom, as he knows, I have the greatest possible respect. However, I notice that it has become a habit for the Labour Party to do something which our party did not do when it was in...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that the Statement seems to be rather long on aspirations that governments should agree to agree at a later date? That seems to apply in particular to the free market in financial services. Can the noble Baroness help the House a little further than perhaps the Statement does? Can she confirm that the principal country holding up the development of such...
Viscount Cranborne: rose to ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they have taken to relieve the plight of East Anglian pig producers in the light of the recent outbreak of classical swine fever. My Lords, before beginning this short debate, I should declare a number of interests: first, as President of the British Pig Association, which is concerned primarily with rare breed pigs; and, secondly, as a...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord who answers the debate will confirm this. I have only heard verbal reports. I have not seen a press release. I am told that there was never much problem about the payment of £50; it was the up-to £25 as a result of the reduced levy that was not paid. Perhaps as a result of this debate--because one likes to flatter oneself if one can--the Government...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, I declare an interest as president of the British Pig Association. I also have considerable interests not only in farming but in a large number of businesses of the kind that are covered by the Statement. I should like to put two questions. First, in view of the happy consensus in this House that the first priority is to eradicate the disease as the best way to help people affected...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, despite the admirably succinct way in which the Minister answered the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, I am afraid that I am still in something of a quandary. Can the noble Lord explain for the benefit of the House how it is that the CFP has benefited both fish stocks and British fisherman more than, for example, a 200-mile exclusion zone would have done?
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, during the course of the passage of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill through your Lordships' House it became clear that one of its main purposes, as we knew it would be, was to impose a general rule that no one from abroad should contribute to political parties in the United Kingdom. I shall not comment on the general effects of the legislation, except to say...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, your Lordships will have noticed that there has been a plethora of short debates on constitutional and allied matters in the past few weeks. I do not believe that we should make any apology for that. It is a thoroughly good thing. One reason is that the usual suspects are trotted out in the process. For me, it means that more than once I have had the pleasure of following the noble...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, as someone who is completely unmilitary, I find that I have an almost embarrassing number of interests to declare in this debate, for which I believe the House should be extremely grateful to my noble friend. I speak as a former honorary colonel of the 4th Battalion of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, now as a deputy honorary colonel of the amalgamated Rifle Volunteers, in which...
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, is it also true to say that the current rates of tax on cigarettes encourage a trade which seems to account for an increasing proportion of cigarettes sold in this country? As a result of that trade, the government health warning on packets of cigarettes is reaching an increasingly smaller proportion of a market, the remainder of which is denied, therefore, that valuable health warning.
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, I can assure noble Lords opposite that I shall be brief. Am I right in concluding from the noble and learned Lord's answer to my noble friend Lord Campbell--a clansman of the person in question--that Mr Alastair Campbell has not signed the Official Secrets Act?
Viscount Cranborne: My Lords, does the Minister agree that two of the most unhelpful nations in respect of encouraging the breaking of sanctions are Russia and France--both of which are members of the Security Council? To what extent does she think that the future health of the common foreign and security policy can be assumed if we find ourselves at odds with France, one of our principal European partners, in...