Mr Arthur Newens: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 12 May.
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the Prime Minister regard the huge increase in unemployment, the serious decline in manufacturing output, the increases in taxation for the lower paid, the vast number of company liquidations and the savage cuts in the social services and in house building as compatible with the extravagant promises that she made at the last general election? In those circumstances, how on earth does she...
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, in view of the poor record of human rights both in Iran and Iraq and the tremendous suffering of the people there as a result, there is no justification for supplying arms to either side in this struggle? The right hon. Gentleman has already said that no lethal weapons will be supplied. Will he make it clear that we shall not supply any components for...
Mr Arthur Newens: How does the right hon. Gentleman's profession of support for democracy and respect for human rights accord with his support for representatives of the Khymer Rouge, which had an appalling record of genocide in Cambodia, remaining in the United Nations organisation? Will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to discuss with ASEAN the appalling nature of that regime and the fact that no...
Mr Arthur Newens: There are many issues on which I disagree with the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) but I agree completely with him in his opposition to the Bill. It is unnecessary for this measure to be introduced at this moment. The hon. Gentleman will probably disagree with me when I say that the introduction of the Bill is illustrative—although it is not the most important issue—of the...
Mr Arthur Newens: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is satisfied with trends in expenditure on textbooks in schools; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the Minister recognise that increasing numbers of pupils in schools are forced to manage without textbooks, unless their parents can afford to buy them, which puts them at a serious disadvantage, particularly when they are tackling homework? Is it not madness to accept that state of affairs while printing and publishing firms are making people redundant, who will then have to be...
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the Minister recognise that the enforcement of staffing ratios in response to falling rolls means that many schools are dispensing with teachers of minority subjects? Britain is going backwards in the teaching not only of minority languages, but of all languages at A-level. Unless the Minister does something about it, we shall continue to go backwards.
Mr Arthur Newens: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 26 April.
Mr Arthur Newens: In view of the growing wave of concern in the United States over the determination of President Reagan to press ahead with nuclear escalation, is the right hon. Lady still content to allow cruise missiles to be deployed in Britain, especially when there is no effective British veto on their use? Will she recognise that the smokescreen of smears put out by the Secretary of State for Defence...
Mr Arthur Newens: asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the latest figure for the number of unemployed persons.
Mr Arthur Newens: Will the right hon. Gentleman stop dodging the question? If one takes strategic and theatre nuclear weapons together, in terms of targeted warheads has not the West more than the Soviet Union? Will he answer that question? Will he deny those facts if they are not true?
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that, although Prime Minister's Question Time offers an opportunity to raise the important question of the provision of loans by British banks to Argentina, which are being used to finance the rearmament of that country, it is by no means adequate? Will he therefore accept that many hon. Members on both sides and many people in the country who find the...
Mr Arthur Newens: asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has given any advice to British banks about their involvement in a consortium of foreign banks which is seeking to negotiate the new medium term loan to Argentina following the Argentine decision to suspend repayment on nearly £1,000 million of its foreign debt.
Mr Arthur Newens: Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that there are no conditions attached to the loan to prevent the Argentine Government from using it to purchase arms, and that recently the Almirante Brown has been delivered, replete with British components, along with 70 Mirage III or Dagger jet fighters? Numerous other items are on order. Is it not a disgrace that the Government are prepared to finance the...
Mr Arthur Newens: Really. What a disgrace.
Mr Arthur Newens: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of that disgraceful Pontius Pilate-like reply, I shall seek to raise the matter on the Adjournment.
Mr Arthur Newens: There has been some progress as a result of the equalisation of fuel prices and the fall in the parity of sterling. However, does the Minister recognise that, after so many bad years, British glasshouse growers do not have the capital, and will not have it for several years, for the necessary investment to make their industry fully competitive? Therefore, will he study the grant system,...
Mr Arthur Newens: Will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that his inspectors continue to increase their vigilance on the import of cut flowers and produce from overseas, because standards for the elimination of chrysanthemum rust are much higher in Britain than on the continent, and our producers do not receive compensation when stock must be destroyed?
Mr Arthur Newens: Does the Minister agree that many rural areas adjacent to urban districts suffer badly from cuts in bus services? Is it not impossible to operate bus services at a profit in many such areas, particularly during off-peak hours? In those circumstances, do we not have a right to ask the Government to give more public support to ensure that more services are not lost?
