Mr Reginald Freeson: May I refer the Leader of the House to the business for next Thursday, the Local Government Bill? On 5 February the Minister for Housing, Urban Affairs and Construction, in the course of a fairly lengthy statement, announced that as from midnight that day it would be illegal for local authorities, among other things, to guarantee private finance for a host of housing initiatives worth,...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Returning to the original supplementary question asked by the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Mr. Lester), will the Foreign Secretary express a view as to whether the existence of about 50,000 nuclear warheads throughout the world is adequate for security, or do we need more?
Mr Reginald Freeson: I do not share the pride of the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood, (Mr. Wilkinson) at having cruise stationed in Europe. I do not share his hope that those countries that have not completed the stationing of such weapons will do so. There is neither reason for pride nor hope in such an argument, despite the fact that some may argue that there is necessity. I wish to make some general...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I do not believe that my observation was humorous. I do not normally join in the debates in the Chamber because I find most of them are devoted to the detailed minutiae that overlook some of the central issues that have faced Britain and people on both sides of the iron curtain for far too long. Indeed, they have been left untackled for too long. The hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr....
Mr Reginald Freeson: I agree with the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr. Silvester) that we do not have to reinvent the wheel or to continue digging up the problem, holding it up and analysing it, or whatever metaphor one chooses. With respect, the hon. Gentleman was being a little too bland. He said that, if only we all agreed, things would happen. I am not saying this in a party sense. I hope that,...
Mr Reginald Freeson: With respect, the hon. Gentleman was not listening carefully enough to what I said. I was not suggesting that one Minister could co-ordinate all that I was talking about. I was referring to the machinery and using the word that the Home Secretary used in the debate 16 months ago. I recall that clearly. For about eight or nine months in the short Parliament in 1974 there was a Minister of...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Will the hon. Gentleman welcome Birmingham city council's proposed joint enterprise, which involves the private sector and many institutions, to establish an urban renewal company to act as an urban renewal agency? Will he urge the Government to endorse such a joint co-operative approach?
Mr Reginald Freeson: I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. It is because this initiative is so important, not only for Birmingham but elsewhere, that I intervene again. What neither he nor the Government have done so far is to give a general welcome to the initiative. Notwithstanding the fact that many detailed matters have to be investigated, checked and studied, there has not yet been a positive...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Taking another aspect of the north-south issue to which the Leader of the House referred a moment ago, despite the much vaunted prosperity of the south-east is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are nearly 400,000 people out of work in London? That is the second highest regional figure in the country. There are many other problems associated with that by way of social and economic...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Reginald Freeson: I can assure the hon. Gentleman that although it was true at the time—I was in government at that time—that local authority representatives did not welcome the report, neither did the Treasury. It would not welcome it today either.
Mr Reginald Freeson: I shall concentrate my remarks on clauses 2, 3 and 4, although I could perhaps preface them with a brief reference to the matters with which clause 1 is concerned. Much play has been made of that by the hon. Member for Nottingham, East (Mr. Knowles), the Minister and others. I make it perfectly clear that I hold no brief for irresponsible financial management by any local authority or for...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I am corrected. Sixty-two thousand jobs will be created directly or indirectly as a consequence of new building, refurbishment, furniture, fittings and all the other things that go with such building activity or come as a consequence of it. Under cover of pretending to introduce or to encourage more private finance, the Government have put a block on it and have prevented the potential for...
Mr Reginald Freeson: The hon. Gentleman should not tempt me too far down that road. I started to get a little uppity about that with my then fellow colleagues in the Treasury when we were in government. I do not want to go into things here which I should not be talking about in these circumstances. It is an idiotic convention or rule. After several years of pressure, there have been signs that the Treasury has...
Mr Reginald Freeson: rose—
Mr Reginald Freeson: Earlier on, the Minister said that there are situations—there have been plenty in the past and there are plenty today—when the use of the deferred purchase procedure is quite reasonable and produces good results. I am almost quoting the phrase that he used. Is it not perfectly possible for individual local authorities to work out, with the help of the director of finance, a likely...
Mr Reginald Freeson: rose—
Mr Reginald Freeson: I am grateful to the Minister. I accept that the Minister intends to introduce the details during the Committee proceedings, but it would be useful to have some idea of the criteria that will be used. If there are cases where the excessive use of such procedures builds up an indebtedness in a few years, well above reasonable levels, that is not very prudent. However, there will be other cases...
Mr Reginald Freeson: In the past two or three years agreements have been fairly extensively negotiated on the initiative of housing associations and the like. Is the Minister saying that in future only a proportion of the capital costs involved can be subject to a local authority guarantee, rather than the general overall guarantees that have been negotiated? Is he saying that an important criterion will be that...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Answer the question.