Dr Jeremy Bray: My central point was that if the Chancellor wants an efficient exchange rate and monetary policy—I was not questioning whether he has one—he needs to define it. That point was made by Sam Brittan in the Financial Times today. The Chancellor will find that if he does not deal with that issue now, he will have to do so at a later date, and I was offering him a way forward.
Dr Jeremy Bray: The Chancellor's skill in designing his Budget was well demonstrated by the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, South-West (Mr. Madel), who is a man of broad sympathies and of views that I find more acceptable than those of some Conservative Members. I hope that that remark will not do the hon. Gentleman too much damage in his constituency. The hon. Gentleman's ability to commend the broad sweep...
Dr Jeremy Bray: The Secretary of State has been properly exercised in his office by announcing the new Government policies. Is he aware that when he was talking about announcing unemployment figures he made a slip of the tongue? It is not his job to announce unemployment figures; they are announced by statisticians in his Department. Government statisticians are having the greatest difficulty in...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Minister so sure that customers want the fuel, or do they want to avoid responsibility for the cost of cancellation of the contracts? Is he so sure that there is a genuine demand for MOX fuel relative to the fuel costs of enriched uranium?
Dr Jeremy Bray: How can the Government possibly continue to do something that they have not been doing?
Dr Jeremy Bray: The hon. Member for Bedfordshire, North (Sir T. Skeet), who is a veteran of science debates, has made another valuable contribution, and the hon. Members for Pudsey (Sir G. Shaw) and for Wantage (Mr. Jackson) have also made thoughtful, well-informed and constructive speeches. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster says that there is little real difference between the parties on science...
Dr Jeremy Bray: I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying. The joint European torus is a different matter; it has nothing to do with high-energy particle physics. It is to do with methods of electricity generation in the future. I believe that it should be financed by a research levy on the generating authorities, but the Government have effectively closed research into electricity generation. The...
Dr Jeremy Bray: While the Chancellor has been making some minor administrative arrangements in his office, has he done anything for the role of science and technology in British industry, which is so necessary? The President of the Board of Trade and the Secretary of State for Education are here, but where is the Secretary of State for Defence? Has the Chancellor won any battles with them? Where is the Met...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Chancellor of the Duchy aware that other Governments in Europe and the European Commission take a considerably greater interest in this matter than do the British Government and that, in the conferences planned on the European Community fast programme, he and his colleagues are participating but little?
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is it the Government's intention to continue to consult widely the people of Hong Kong, including their elected representatives in the Legislative Council, during the progress of the talks with China?
Dr Jeremy Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of steel workers made redundant at Ravenscraig and now retraining under official schemes administered by the Lanarkshire Development Agency are retraining for skills in manufacturing.
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Minister not worried that the proportion of experienced and skilled production workers training for manufacturing in the industrial heartland of Scotland is so appallingly low? Is he not aware that the same mistrust of the prospects for employment is shared by young people in Lanarkshire schools, who see no prospects for manufacturing under the Government? Do the Government intend to...
Dr Jeremy Bray: rose—
Dr Jeremy Bray: I do not believe that I advocated lower interest rates two years ago. When the economy has been put into a grossly unstable situation, one has to take action to correct that. The mistake was made in 1987. Lord Lawson well describes in his book how the crash on the stock exchange led him to reduce interest rates at a time when all the signs were that both interest rates and taxes should have...
Dr Jeremy Bray: The hon. Member for Cambridgeshire, South-West (Sir A. Grant) asked what the Opposition would do about the undertaking under the Rio convention to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. I offer one simple device off the cuff. If VAT on domestic fuel and power is considered the appropriate solution, it would be perfectly possible to make that revenue-neutral on VAT by reducing the average rate, so...
Dr Jeremy Bray: The German unemployment level is about half that of the United Kingdom, and the average income in Germany is a great deal higher than it is here. The hon. Gentleman is confusing the short-term situation with the underlying strengths of the German economy. The same goes for the Japanese economy. The hon. Gentleman really ought to go and look at those economies at first hand. Judged by the...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Will the Foreign Secretary confirm that, apart from the usual gyrations in the stock exchange casinos, trade and business in Hong Kong with China are proceeding perfectly normally? Will he also confirm that nothing in the constitutional proposals and in the democratic principles underlying them undermines the continued prosperity and expansion of the Hong Kong economy? Will he consider taking...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Does the Chancellor agree with the Agricultural and Food Research Council that the figures for 1994 to 1996 represent a cut in previously planned totals and that that will mean cuts in terms of its programmes?
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Secretary of State aware that there is continuing confusion in Lanarkshire due to the lack of a strategy embracing the steel site, which is where the problem began and is the biggest area of derelict industrial land in Scotland? Mistakes are being made in planning and in capital programmes because there is no coherent development strategy. Will the Secretary of State make sure that the...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Will the Minister confirm that although the total for all Government expenditure remains as planned for next year, the science budget for research councils has been cut from that which had been previously planned? Does he acknowledge, therefore, that the effect of the creation of the Office of Science and Technology has been to reduce the priority given to science by the Government?
