Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I think I am right in saying that the figures that my hon. Friend has just quoted are for East Sussex as now constituted. As he and my hon. Friend the Minister will know, the Labour-controlled unitary authority of Brighton and Hove will shortly be taken out of East Sussex. Is he aware that all the indications are that that local authority, if controlled by Labour as opposed to the Liberal...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that coalition government and a multi-party Cabinet, which is the result of the system of proportional representation that this country should certainly avoid, gave Prime Minister Netanyahu particular difficulties in reaching the agreement? Does my right hon. and learned Friend therefore accept that the Israeli Prime Minister deserves not only...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: If the debate has clone nothing else, it has reminded the House and, I hope, a wider audience of the extent of the differences of view about Europe on both sides of the House. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis), following the federalist views of the hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone), stretched the views of the Opposition quite extensively—but, of course,...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Did the right hon. Gentleman's survey of public opinion cover the percentage of the British people who wish Brussels to have the right to legislate against British laws on any health or social matter or on any matter affecting the workplace?
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Is it not clear that the right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) is not very familiar with the use of parliamentary scrutiny reserves? Can my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that such reserves are frequently used in European Union affairs—not just by this country, but by other countries that have proper methods of parliamentary scrutiny—and that it is therefore not...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I congratulate my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary and my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on their commitment to free trade. Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that that commitment has created an enormous number of jobs in this country, especially because of the effective work of the joint export promotion directorate of the two Departments? I...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Does my right hon. Friend agree that successful economic co-operation between Israel and her neighbours, including the Palestine entity, is an effective way of progressing and strengthening the peace process? Will he therefore consider the obstacles that exist to the use of public or private finance from the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom's considerable expertise to help that economic...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I hope that the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) will excuse my not commenting in detail on his amendment. My view on expenses is that they should fully cover the costs that hon. Members have to incur, but should not be expected to produce a profit and should be properly monitored. Before I became a Member of Parliament, I was the executive director of a major company, and...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I sympathise strongly with the objectives of all the new clauses, and there is no doubt that there is widespread sympathy in the country for them. I wish to reinforce the point made by the hon. Member for Ceredigion and Pembroke, North (Mr. Dafis) about the difference between television and other media. Television is not only in the home, we do not have to pay anything to watch it. It is not...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Does my right hon. Friend agree that expanded choice and diversity, which the Government have consistently encouraged and which the Opposition have consistently opposed, play a vital role in equipping the pupils of today for working in the 21st century? Will she confirm that she hopes to see a rapid increase in the number of places available in technology and language specialist schools and...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: My hon. Friend's amendment meets one of the concerns felt by many hon. Members. If the person who applied for delay or prevention was—to use the familiar jargon—the party guilty of unreasonable conduct or even of adultery, would such an application not be allowed under my hon. Friend's amendment?
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State knows, Hove—like parts of London—contains many long leaseholders. Like my right hon. Friend, I am angry about the fact that too many have suffered for far too long from bad and, in some cases, unscrupulous management. Freeholders have sought to make money to which they are not entitled. Regrettably, the problem remains, despite our four...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I think that I read a different Scott report from the one read by the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr. Radice)—I certainly drew different conclusions from it. Perhaps we might have had a more informed and rational debate on the serious subjects that he has identified if his hon. Friends on the Opposition Front Bench had had the courtesy to apologise to the House for their disgraceful and...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: No, I am afraid that I do not have time. If that were so, we could not be said to manufacture any cars in this country because, according to the Opposition's logic, if they are manufactured using Japanese machine tools they are Japanese cars. Equally, there was no conspiracy to send innocent men to gaol. I am not a lawyer and many expert lawyers have explained why that is not so; I shall...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: The reason why Sir Richard gave so much weight to the suggestion that the House had been misled was his widely shared concern about the unnecessary secrecy surrounding Government. That is why he devoted so much attention to the Import and Export Control Act 1990, which was not otherwise relevant to his inquiry, but certainly revealed the Opposition's attitude to informing Parliament. There...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Will the hon. Gentleman have the grace to admit that, if anything in the entire episode lacks credibility, it is his suggestion that, when he said that the Government had armed Saddam Hussein, he was trying to do anything other than give the impression that lethal weapons had been sold?
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: May I remind my right hon. Friend that when I was Minister for Trade I was one of those who had occasion to refer to, and give answers in connection with, the guidelines? When I asked to see them, the text that I was shown and the text to which I stuck used exactly the same words as the text given in the House by Lord Howe in 1985. Does my right hon. Friend further agree that the guidelines...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: Will my right hon. Friend accept that the priority that he has given to education in the form of a 4.5 per cent. increase and the recognition of that in the capping formula will be very widely welcomed? Will he join me in condemning the irresponsible party political scaremongering in which East Sussex county council and a number of others led by Labour and the Liberal Democrats have indulged,...
Hon. Tim Sainsbury: I rise to do two things. First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone) on giving the House the opportunity to discuss an important subject, and on putting the facts and figures of the matter so eloquently before the House. Secondly, I want to support as strongly as I can everything that my hon. Friend said. Perhaps I should take exception to my hon. Friend's remarks...
