Mr John Biggs-Davison: The changes affecting the Buckhurst Hill county high school, to which the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) referred, are not the policy of a Conservative authority. They are the policy of Essex county council, which is not Conservative-controlled.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does my hon. Friend think that the country to which M. Jacques Delors belongs wants a united states of Europe either?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Can my hon. Friend confirm the report in Private Eye that London Buses Ltd. is thinking again about the introduction of one-person operated buses in central London?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: As a general rule, is it not the case that when there are difficulties with foreign states, or matters arising that occasion disapproval, it is most important to have the fullest diplomatic representation?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: What representations has my hon. Friend received from the Catholic hierarchy about the proposed education reform, and what has been done to remove its misgivings?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: That this is to be, as the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) has just reminded us, the 14th interim period extension order, illustrates the truth of the French saying that nothing endures like the provisional. Apart from the post-Sunningdale period of the power-sharing Executive, Northern Ireland has been subjected to quasi-colonial rule by mainland Ministers, and I...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who has been very courteous to the House. Since the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) mentioned the attitude of the SDLP, perhaps one could say a word of commendation to the SDLP councillors in Fermanagh who voted with the Unionists to unseat the Sinn Fein chairman of the council because he had refused to condemn the Enniskillen atrocities.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: We welcome what has been said about this atrocity by Mr. Haughey, but do we not now have the right to expect words to be matched by deeds and a success to be made of the extradition arrangements? Although the last internment was excessive and incompetent, will my right hon. Friend and the Government at least not rule out highly selective detention before they have discussed it with the...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Looking forward, as my right hon. and learned Friend has suggested we do, should this outrageous absurdity not be regarded as a setback, not just to one Government, but to two, and to the police forces of both countries in their struggle against a common enemy? In trying to put common security on to a better footing—I realise that this is not strictly a matter for my right hon. and learned...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: As we approach this pagan and profane holiday and parliamentary recess, may I ask my right hon. Friend to consider the early-day motion entitled "Public Holidays", standing in my name and that of some of my hon. Friends? [This this House, while desiring that public holidays should be reasonably spread through the year, considers that they should enable the people to commemorate traditional...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I welcome what my right hon. Friend has said, and also what the hon. Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin) said about Private Thain. However, is it not the case that none of the prisoners whom my right hon. Friend has released has returned' to crime, which is in contrast to such cases as two of the three people killed in Gibraltar who had—under the remission system—served sentences of...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on progress on extradition arrangements with the Irish Republic.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does my right hon. and learned Friend say that the Irish Republic is no longer treating the United Kingdom as the least-favoured nation for this purpose? Is not one of the consequences of the Anglo-Irish Agreement that undue pressure is constantly being put upon Her Majesty's Government, without any obligation to make concessions on the other side? Is it not time that the Agreement was...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does my right hon. Friend recall that it is some time since the Provisional IRA, in common with other terrorist organisations on the continent with which it has relations, decided that it would attack NATO installations and personnel—and indeed has done so? May we be assured that there will be the fullest co-operation with other NATO powers and forces so that there can be a common campaign...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I do not know why my hon. Friend should wish to give way to me. I have no wish to intervene in the debate, so overcome am I by my hon. Friend's eloquence.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about his latest talks with Northern Ireland political leaders.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Is not the Ulster Unionist difficulty over all this and over the possibility of talking to Mr. Haughey the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which also presents problems to a patriotic Taoiseach? Will the Government make use of the November review of the Intergovernmental Conference to transform this unequal agreement into an equal treaty of full partnership? Let the flawed agreement wither, and get...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Although I believe that Cranmer came down on the wrong side of the fence—or perhaps I should say stake—would it not be as well, in this anniversary year if his splendid prayers and collects were studied by the Anglo-Americans, who shamefully mistranslated the Latin rites into banal English, and by those to whom will fall the task of revising them?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does my right hon. Friend recall the reign of Queen Anne—[Interruption.]—when there was a national lottery of which the then Archbishop of Canterbury was a patron? In the event of a hospitals lottery, will an invitation be extended to Dr. Runcie?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Will my right hon. Friend, or her right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General, draw the attention of the broadcasting authorities to section 11 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974, under which it is an offence to withhold information of material assistance in bringing terrorists to justice—or are they above the law?