Mr Reginald Freeson: I am glad to follow the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Benyon) because I cannot fault any of his words, other than when he was drawn into a rather lighthearted exchange about the different merits of the Labour and Conservative parties in their treatment of charitable organisations. I accept the spirit in which he made his point. When I was a Minister I introduced the Housing Act 1974,...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I regret that I gave way to such an offensive intervention. I am making a serious point of dispute and argument not only in the House, but among all the charitable organisations in Britain. Conservative Members should not be brass-necked about the matter. [Interruption.] I shall gladly give way to the hon. Member for Woolwich, West (Mr. Bottomley) if he wishes to make a serious intervention....
Mr Reginald Freeson: I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was present in the Chamber when this point was, to some extent, discussed by his hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham, but it was largely answered by him. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the record. Even if his latter point was right, it is not for Parliament or for Government to interfere with the detailed management affairs of charitable housing...
Mr Reginald Freeson: When charitable associations—it could be any other charitable organisation—are being offered central or local government support or, indeed, any financial support, it is unprincipled if, subsequently, conditions are attached to the receipt of the grant. We are not discussing the Leasehold Reform Act. That is a false analogy. I read the proceedings from Committee and I do not accept that...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I can see the Minister. The hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mr. Thorne) does not have that pleasure.
Mr Reginald Freeson: The Secretary of State referred to great opportunities being created for inward investment by the private sector. Is he aware that there are great opportunities for inward investment by the Government? Does he agree that the biggest single economic generator is the construction industry and that the way to get things moving in Northern Ireland, as elsewhere in the United Kingdom, is through a...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Returning to the question of encouraging better heating for elderly people in these badly insulated homes, will the Minister look at the Homes Insulation Act 1978 again and use the powers that the Act gives his Department to introduce a further scheme beyond the loft insulation scheme?
Mr Reginald Freeson: asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much money has had to be spent over the past four years in the National Health Service budget to cope with the increase in demand caused by demographic change.
Mr Reginald Freeson: If one takes account of the enforced expenditure on demographic and other similar changes within the National Health Service and calculates that as a whole, one produces the net result that there has been a decrease in real terms in expansion of the service. Is that not having an effect on areas such as mine—an inner city area whose hospital and community services are under threat? When...
Mr Reginald Freeson: How do these considerations contribute to the ending of compulsory segregation in the school system? Should not some priority be given to that?
Mr Reginald Freeson: The best way of fighting terrorism and anything associated with it is by open justice and not by secret activity on the part of the state. Having reached this stage with the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976, there has been a victory for political terrorism, and not for democracy. In effect, we have given way to terrorism. The Act is the very form of legislation that...
Mr Reginald Freeson: As the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate, I could not pursue my deeply held views when in government. One is subject to collective responsibility. I have consistently—not for the first time this year—been speaking and voting against renewal of the legislation. The records will show that and the fact that I held the same views when I participated in the previous debate. On that occasion...
Mr Reginald Freeson: They happen to be a minority of those detained. I am more interested in the 80 per cent. or thereabouts—
Mr Reginald Freeson: Must we spend the rest of our time bandying figures around? I can quote figures from the same report and other documents issued by the Home Secretary which show that the majority of people affected by the Act are not charged in the courts. They are shown to be innocent and are released. That is the fundamental issue. Exclusion orders have been discussed by other hon. Members. I accept that...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I sympathise with much of what the hon. Member for Beckenham (Sir P. Goodhart) said and the mood in which he said it. I knew Ambassador Argov personally and suffered shock and emotion after the attack on him. However, does the hon. Gentleman think that the subject that the House is debating is of direct relevance? Does he think that the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976...
Mr Reginald Freeson: That was not the mood. I was a junior member of the same Government and that was not the mood in which the measure was presented to the Government, the House or the Committee.
Mr Reginald Freeson: Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether he accepts that proposal?
Mr Reginald Freeson: Will the Minister not be so offhand in rejecting, by implication, the suggestion of my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Dubs)? Will serious consideration be given to establishing some kind of forum in which peoples from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland can meet to discuss matters of common interest—political, economic and social? Will he consider extending...
Mr Reginald Freeson: I am sure the Minister is aware, and will he remind the hon. Member for Enfield, North (Mr. Eggar), that as a matter of courtesy, and in accordance with the convention of the House, when hon. Members wish to pursue matters involving another hon. Member's constituency, they have the grace to contact that hon. Member? Kilburn polytechnic is in the constituency of Brent, East. The Minister or...
Mr Reginald Freeson: Will the settlement to which the statement refers increase Government resources going to areas of greatest deprivation, such as the partnership and programme authorities, the designated inner urban area authorities and areas of special rural deprivation? Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House to what extent the capital receipts of about £1,500 million that local authorities have in...