Mr Fred Silvester: Is my right hon. Friend aware that a movement has erupted in Manchester composed of all parties—Labour, Conservative and alliance—against a 20 per cent. increase in the rates and the mortgaging of their future, and that this petition is a cry for help from the people of Manchester to the people outside it? Will she find time today to give it her support?
Mr Fred Silvester: My hon. Friend said that the order was predictable and unsurprising, but perhaps the speech of the hon. Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Snape) was even more predictable and unsurprising. He took us through the letter from the North of England Regional Consortium and demonstrated that, even though he is very good at spreading these things out, it was just as thin an argument when he spoke...
Mr Fred Silvester: asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many persons are employed by the Duchy in the north-west region.
Mr Fred Silvester: Is my right hon. Friend also pleased that there has been a continuous fall in unemployment in the north-west during the past eight months in respect of both male and female unemployment, and that the percentage of unemployment is low compared with the previous period?
Mr Fred Silvester: asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the latest position regarding the development of the rail link to Manchester airport.
Mr Fred Silvester: Is it not a little disappointing that this is taking so long? Where does responsibility lie for the next stage? Can my hon. Friend give us any idea of the date on which he expects the application to be submitted?
Mr Fred Silvester: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to meet the new Taoiseach to discuss the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Mr Fred Silvester: If Her Majesty's Government are to sustain their policy on the Anglo-Irish Agreement, is it not of great importance that we have urgent talks with the Taoiseach to see whether the continuity of the Republic's policy is sustained?
Mr Fred Silvester: May I press my hon. Friend on the dual-purpose, indoor-outdoor wheelchair? One of the discussions around the report was about young people who suffer from diseases which will shorten their life expectancy. What is the position of the fairly rapid provision of suitable wheelchairs for those people?
Mr Fred Silvester: May I stress that not all hon. Members wish to carp at the Minister's announcement, but that some sincerely thank him for it? It is in addition to a substantial capital increase in the north-west, which is several percentage points above the level of the nation as a whole.
Mr Fred Silvester: Like his hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox), the hon. Member for Tyne Bridge (Mr. Clelland) has displayed an attitude of mind that makes the wording of the motion a mistake. We could be discussing the inner cities on a much better motion. I shall return to that point later. Most hon. Members who have been considering this problem for some time will recollect that if, as the hon....
Mr Fred Silvester: I might or might not agree on another occasion, but that is irrelevant to this matter.
Mr Fred Silvester: With respect, it is. If we are to throw into the pot all our particular political desires, we shall never get anywhere. It is possible under the present system, irrespective of changing the voting mechanisms, for people of good will and with a wide range of political attitudes to get together and adopt practical policies to solve these problems. We do not have to dig this matter up...
Mr Fred Silvester: Does my right hon. Friend's announcement mean that research institutes involved in vaccine research may now submit new projects to the Medical Research Council? Does his statement on cervical cancer include any resources for getting rid of the backlog, which in some parts of the country is now severe?
Mr Fred Silvester: The hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) is a sufficiently experienced Member of the House to know that he has stayed just within the bounds of order. He knows that he has seriously abused the way in which this debate was set up. He has sought to put on the record things which no doubt will get a good press. However, they have little to do with this Bill. My hon. and learned Friend the...
Mr Fred Silvester: I do not dispute that. The point at issue is whether—if my hon. and learned Friend's Bill is carried through and we have a decision, unanimous or otherwise in the House of Lords—the right of appeal will still lie to Strasbourg. This case clearly demonstrates that the right of appeal does so lie. My hon. and learned Friend's Bill, unlike the convention, has been before the House. It has...
Mr Fred Silvester: I am not accusing the hon. Gentleman of that, but it is a danger. The hon. Member for Great Grimsby showed another danger. He said that, if he were drafting the Bill, he would have done it differently. That is interesting. He cited the example of New Zealand. Exactly the same problem was raised in the Council of Europe when the convention was first set up. Where is the limit on rights? Do...
Mr Fred Silvester: That follows, of course, from my right hon. and learned Friend's position. But I think—this is purely my view—that the people involved in that case would have done better to pressurise Members of Parliament to raise the subject. Once the shareholders went to Strasbourg, they more or less forced the Government to defend their position at a time when many of us felt in our hearts that it...
Mr Fred Silvester: Of course, I accept that. However, I am not misleading myself and am certainly not trying to mislead the House. This simple Bill, if that is how my hon. and learned Friend defines it, is nevertheless a Bill that imposes upon the House, as the convention has already imposed on the House, a judicial control over what the House can do.
Mr Fred Silvester: My hon. and learned Friend shakes his head. Perhaps I was overlong in my intervention on the Tyrer case, but my hon. and learned Friend did not answer it. That was a clear case in which Parliament took one view, the court took another, and the court's view prevailed. There is no doubt about that. If in time we have a Bill of Rights, precedents, habits and constitutional practices will...