Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, can my noble and learned friend give some indication as to whether any progress has been made and, if so, how much and in specific terms what, on the matter of the acquis communautaire? My noble and learned friend will be as aware as I am, or possibly even more so, that until the recent conference, the position has been that new joiners to the Community have been required to accede...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, in the course of my noble and learned Lord's emphasis on the further inquiries to be made, he was kind enough to indicate the agencies that would provide the information. A little phrase crept in with which I am thoroughly familiar. I think the House is familiar with it too. The words were "subject to the usual constraints". This is a vital phrase. If, for example—as seems likely...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, will my noble friend take steps to protect the hitherto accurate papers that have been produced on various subjects, and to ensure that the publications that the Government have produced concerning weapons of mass destruction are corrected, because most of those so far issued by Her Majesty's Government have been grossly inaccurate?
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that statements today in so far as they affect the Kurds seem to be rather less robust? It has always been the stance of the United Kingdom in this that the position of the Kurds, who have hitherto been oppressed by the Turks, should be fully safeguarded before Turkey is admitted to the European Union.
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I rise not to ask the indulgence of the House for being unable to stay to the end of the debate, but to state that what I have been saying for a number of years still, in my view, has validity. To "take note of" what the Government have done is a rather tepid way of expressing cowardice.
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I ask the indulgence of the House with regard to its rules. Owing to the unfortunate fact that I am more than 90 years of age and consequently find it difficult for medical reasons to be up much after normal dinner time, I must ask your Lordships' indulgence in this respect. I shall not be able to be here at the end of the debate—after, no doubt, some distinguished speeches. I...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that if it is proposed that these sums should be paid by the European Community, it is this country that will in fact pay?
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, will the Minister give due acknowledgement to the Post Office engineering department which, in my early days at the Ministry of Health, was responsible for the initial development of the first proper hearing aid?
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I shall give a short explanation of the vote that I propose to make, which is in favour of Option 1. My reason for so doing is that I do not believe that this House should at any point challenge the power of the House of Commons. There should be no electoral challenge to the House of Commons. I draw the House's attention to paragraph 75 of the committee's report, which says: "The...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords—
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, are Her Majesty's Government aware of the fact that this entire tobacco scheme presently in force has been fraudulent from the beginning? It has been fraudulent in regard to claims; fraudulent in regard to the areas covered; and fraudulent in amount. When will Her Majesty's Government really put their feet behind a move to boot out this entire fraudulent regime—the existence of...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, are the Government aware that there are several financial considerations that must be pondered over as a result of the convention? In putting that question, I am put in mind of when I entered politics many years ago. I was always taught that, when evaluating some political action, one had to keep a careful eye, first, on where the money came from and, secondly, where it went. I make...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I seek some clarification from the chairman of the European Union Committee. Is it possible for him to draw the line between material that goes, or should go, before the committee and material that bypasses the committee and goes directly to Ministers? The position at present is that material bypasses even the Minister himself and goes directly from the European Commission to the...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I must confess to being a little dismayed by the observations that fell from the lips of the noble Lord, Lord Glenarthur. There was an air of complete certainty about them. To my mind he seemed to be in no doubt as to exactly what occurred and of the consequences. I must say that I remain still very uneasy. I have no experience in aircraft other than as an occasional passenger...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, I speak briefly in this debate to seek further information from my noble friend the Minister. First, to what extent—I use my words with some precision—are the Government responsible to the European Union for any steps that they are considering taking or have already taken? I ask that bearing in mind that the European Union itself has great difficulty accounting for its...
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that her Answer will give quite a little satisfaction to those of us who were there at the time? The memories abide with us, and we are still reminded of the friendships that we all had. It was so different from the social divisions that, at the moment, disfigure this country.
Lord Bruce of Donington: asked Her Majesty's Government: In respect of year 2001–02 (or in respect of any convenient period in the year 2002), how many items of European Union directives, decisions, regulation or other European Union forms of legislation became legally applicable or enforceable in the United Kingdom without prior scrutiny by Parliament's European Scrutiny Committees.
Lord Bruce of Donington: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will publish the annual report and accounts for the Centre for Management and Policy Studies.
Lord Bruce of Donington: asked Her Majesty's Government: What their policy is towards the use of open source software to enable increased value for money in IT procurement across the public sector.
Lord Bruce of Donington: My Lords, will my noble friend see to it that steps are taken to ensure that the Commission does not try to take over the role of governments in this matter and thus may present all governments with a fait accompli?
