Mr Gilbert Longden: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Gilbert Longden: I do not dissent from what the hon. Gentleman says, but how would he prevent the purchaser from paying the tax?
Mr Gilbert Longden: How many hospitals are not equipped to provide this service? Could not some method of announcing which are and which are not so equipped be adopted?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister see some real prospect that the higher paid and the rather higher paid will agree to a narrowing of the differential?
Mr Gilbert Longden: In addition to our own essential national interests, will any regard be had to the interests and livelihoods of our overseas suppliers in the Channel Islands and elsewhere?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Unlike the debate which has just concluded, the one that I am about to initiate does not concern a desperate human problem, and therefore it probably will be very much shorter, yet it is a matter which affects a much greater number of our fellow citizens, because it concerns their health and welfare. I have sought to raise this question tonight simply because I have had more letters from my...
Mr Gilbert Longden: How does the hon. Gentleman suggest that the rapidly diminishing quantities of water which have to serve a rapidly increasing population shall be rationed unless by meter?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Referring to the question asked by the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner), it is not only a question of the roster that we want to know about. Questions have been tabled for 10th August, for instance. When will they be able to be re-tabled? Will my right hon. Friend say whether we shall resume on 16th or 17th October?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Why is the only method that seems to be known to our nationalised industries for solving their problems to increase the price for a reduced service? Would it not help to attract custom if for a change British Railways were to reduce fares and freight rates?
Mr Gilbert Longden: It is a curious feature of the manner in which we conduct our affairs that, whereas our country is generally represented at international gatherings of greater and less importance, Parliament is seldom informed, still less given an opportunity to discuss, what happens at them. When, for example, did we last debate the proceedings of the Council of Europe, or those of the Atlantic Assembly,...
Mr Gilbert Longden: Would it not be as well if Her Majesty's Government were at once to inform our future partners that, when we are in the Community, if our joint endeavours can devise some better means of helping our regions, well and good, but, if not, their welfare must remain a vital national interest which we will protect at all costs?
Mr Gilbert Longden: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish a list of the names and locations of every new direct grant school which has been added to the list in the last two years.
Mr Gilbert Longden: Is my right hon. Friend aware that that is a disappointing answer? I am sure, however, that she is doing her best to fulfil our declared intention to encourage direct grant schools because they provide opportunities for children of academic ability which they might not otherwise have, irrespective of parents' incomes. Can my right hon. Friend say why there has been no increase in the number?
Mr Gilbert Longden: asked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the co-ordination between the Secretaries of State for Employment, the Environment and Social Services in respect of the retraining and subsequent placing in alternative employment of redundant workers; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Gilbert Longden: While thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask him whether he agrees that every year, with relentless inevitability, more and more people find themselves unemployed because of automation, with the resulting problems of retraining, the use of increased leisure, shift work and mobility of labour? Are not these among the most urgent and difficult problems facing the Government today?
Mr Gilbert Longden: asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek powers to enable the rents of small properties to be fixed with a view to enabling their owners to keep their property in repair and at the same time receive what is assessed to be a reasonable income there from.
Mr Gilbert Longden: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer, of which I was fully aware. Will he say how long it will be before owners of these small properties will be able to charge such rents as will enable them to let their properties and to keep them in repair and enjoy a decent income?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Would it not have been better for the Government to include a specific condemnation of the guerrillas for what they have done and a specific injunction upon them not to repeat it?
Mr Gilbert Longden: Reverting to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Dame Joan Vickers), surely the length of Thursday's sitting does not depend only on how many hon. Members wish to speak on this very important Measure. Does it not also depend on the time allowed by my right hon. Friend for the Report stage in this House, and would it not be better to say now that we shall...
Mr Gilbert Longden: May I give my hon. Friend a further opportunity to answer my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead (Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg)? It surely cannot be too difficult to say that the public interest outweighs that of any minority, militant or not.