Mr Neil McBride: I accept that a high sense of confidentiality will be observed in the Swansea office. More important, however, can the right hon. Gentleman say when the central vehicle licensing office which is to be situated in my constituency will become fully operational?
Mr Neil McBride: When will the central vehicle licensing office become fully operational in Swansea?
Mr Neil McBride: My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Mr. Concannon) is putting forward a powerful economic argument for the Nottingham shire coal fields and the indigenous fuel to be found there. But is he saying that that would be a better proposition than being too heavily dependent on, say, expensive imported non-sulphuric oil from Libya?
Mr Neil McBride: Since the right hon. Gentleman refers to the lower income groups, has he failed to realise that the persons on the lowest disposable income and the lowest standard of living, who are most likely to be most heavily affected by his creeping devaluation proposals, are the retirement pensioners? Will he not now, in decency, bring in supplementary pensions Estimates to increase at once the...
Mr Neil McBride: asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he has examined the supply capacity of house building materials, other than bricks and building blocks, in Wales; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Neil McBride: Is it not true that since I framed this Question there is an insufficient margin between the manufacturing capacity of bricks and concrete blocks and the requirements of the house construction industry? As a result of this, will there be an extension of the time limit in the house improvements scheme? Overall, is not this in itself, together with the other shortages known and admitted, a...
Mr Neil McBride: asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he has examined the forecasts of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, wherein they apply to Wales; and what action he intends to take as a result.
Mr Neil McBride: That reply was fallacious. Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman not realise that in terms of this forecast storm signals are flashing for the economy of Wales, because, if the forecast proves true, there will be at the best 35,000 to 40,000 unemployed in the Principality? Is he further aware that the forecast is of a lower growth rate than the Government admit? Is the right hon. and...
Mr Neil McBride: Is my hon. Friend aware that the hon. Member for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer) and myself, who represent Welsh constituencies, have never been furnished with one fact or figure from the Welsh Office to show us, as Welsh Members, how the Principality would be affected, making our task precisely as large today as when entry to the Common Market was first contemplated? This is enormously important...
Mr Neil McBride: The biological requirements to sustain life in the atmosphere, consisting mainly of nitrogen and oxygen, and in the water and soil to sustain plant life, are limited but constantly replenished by cyclical pressures, and so it is that anything emitted into and held to be injurious in the atmosphere, whether sporadic or of a recurring nature requires to be subjected to careful examination, and...
Mr Neil McBride: The hon. Member for Stockport, North (Mr. Idris Owen) was born in the Principality and has been an ex-patriate for many years. I was shocked to realise that he had forgotten the lessons of his early childhood when he said that not many people regard homes as their first priority. I refute that in its entirety. A home is the first and most prized possession of the people I was born amongst in...
Mr Neil McBride: I will not give way; I have nearly finished my speech. It has been mentioned that the Birmingham increase will be 35p and that that figure is likely to be approved. Would the right hon. and learned Gentleman say whether this figure will apply to the Welsh cities? The rents in Swansea are high enough. The present level is fair. I voice sincerely the views of the people who sent me here and...
Mr Neil McBride: I am not mentioning differences. I am asking whether the principle will apply in Swansea as in Birmingham. Amendment No. 425 proposed that the figure of 10 per cent. of rents above the so-called fair rent level to be increased to the mandatory amount of £1 in October should be reduced to 2 per cent. In Swansea we have a non—pooling rent arrangement so that all housing estate rents vary....
Mr Neil McBride: —which means the setting aside of a verdict. If there is no right of appeal then surely in the name of justice, looking at it objectively, this should be given as of right to everyone in these islands. Their home is their castle. If they are held to have infringed the law, if they are affected by a court they should have the right of appeal through the issue of order ofcertiorari. The House...
Mr Neil McBride: On a point of order. I submit that it is an abuse of the rules of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to suggest that anyone should express an opinion about breaking a law which has not yet been made.
Mr Neil McBride: We have heard some remarkable speeches today, and in a few moments I shall deal with that of the hon. Member for Barry (Mr. Gower). The hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Raison) spoke about rents and food in much the same vein. The inference that one can logically draw from that is that those who have the most money eat the best food, and those who have the most money will get the best...
Mr Neil McBride: No, I am sorry. These boards determine rents at closed meetings. They will consist of arbitrarily appointed, non-elected nominees of the Secretary of State for the Environment. It is the Secretary of State for Wales who should be responsible for housing policy in the principality. These nominees will meet in closed session and decide what local councils decide for themselves now —what the...
Mr Neil McBride: I am sorry—
Mr Neil McBride: I have no doubt that the hon. Gentleman feels it important, but I am sorry, I shall not give way. The Tory Government seek to stigma-tise local authority tenants. They had a feeling that they had to do something about local authority tenants and this is their method of doing it. When they compare local authority housing with private property, they are doing so in the relationship of...
Mr Neil McBride: There are two ways of looking at that. First, the selling of council houses does not bring any improvement to the waiting list. Secondly, in South Wales—part of which both the hon. Member for Barry and I represent —when Llanelli Rural District Council was selling houses, a house was on offer at £4,500, and the offer was tenable for only three months. The hon. Member for Barry has not the...