Mr Thomas Urwin: Nauseating.
Mr Thomas Urwin: As more than three months have elapsed since the Reagan peace initiative on the Middle East was promulgated, since when important proposals have been issued from the Fez summit, does the Prime Minister agree that there should be more positive developments towards securing peace in the Middle East? During the summit, was common agreement reached about the necessity to recognise the right of...
Mr Thomas Urwin: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. I am deeply interested in his point about the negotiations for the building of two ships for Ethiopia by Sunderland Shipbuilders. He will recall, as I do, the problems with which Sunderland Shipbuilders was confronted because of what appeared to be an unnecessarily long hold-up by the Department of Trade in releasing the resources...
Mr Thomas Urwin: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As the hon. Member for Tynemouth (Mr. Trotter) clearly, and perhaps genuinely, misunderstands the import of a particular part of the Bill. should not the Minister enlighten his hon. Friend?
Mr Thomas Urwin: I congratulate the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Mrs. Rumbold) on her excellent maiden speech. I trust that, if only for her sake, she will always be listened to in the House with the same attention that she received today. One cannot speak in this debate with anything other than a heavy heart because of the gravity of unemployment. More than 3 million people are now registered as...
Mr Thomas Urwin: In preparing this further harmful statement for local authorities, has the right hon. Gentleman made any estimate of how many of those currently employed in local government will lose their jobs as a consequence of his decisions? Has he taken into account the injurious effects on social services that are operated by local government as a result of this further devastating cut in local...
Mr Thomas Urwin: Will the Prime Minister try to find a little time today to read and analyse the press reports of yesterday and today on the issue raised by the French on the development of a European independent defence policy? Is she prepared to subscribe to the belief expressed by President Mitterrand that the Western European Union provides a ready-made forum for the development of such a policy?
Mr Thomas Urwin: The right hon. Member appears to be trying, not very successfully, to hedge himself around with reasons why he and some of his colleagues should vote with the Government. Having regard to the fact that everything that the right hon. Gentleman is and has, in a political sense, he owes to the Labour Party and the trade union movement, why did he not reject the money supplied to his constituency...
Mr Thomas Urwin: Despite the importance of the discussion, I wish only to make a brief contribution to assist others who wish to intervene. I give my unequivocal support to the motion, which reflects the attitude of many of my constituents who lobbied extensively following the publication of the Armitage report last December. A large number of my people reacted violently to the proposals for heavier lorries....
Mr Thomas Urwin: The Secretary of State referred to widespread consultations, but has he entered into consultations with the TUC and with individual trade unions, as they will be much affected by his announcement? What contribution will the announcement and proposed legislation make to increasing productivity and improving harmonious relations with the trade union movement in general?
Mr Thomas Urwin: During the discussions on the separate and disparate economies of democratic countries, was any reference made to the economy of a former European democcracy, Turkey? Did the member States at the summit conference accept a collective responsibility to impress upon the military junta now operating in Turkey the importance of an early return to plural democracy?
Mr Thomas Urwin: I wish to return to the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition about the mission currently being undertaken in Liverpool by the Secretary of State for the Environment. May we have an absolute assurance from the Leader of the House that no decisions will be implemented immediately following the completion of the Secretary of State's report based on his explorations...
Mr Thomas Urwin: Can the Minister be more specific about the date on which information will be released about the decision? Between now and then, will he seek to ensure that at the forefront of the thinking of the people responsible for the Nissan project are the claims of the development areas and especially those of the North-East of England?
Mr Thomas Urwin: May I take the Leader of the House back to yesterday's debate on unemployment, picking up a question that was asked by one of his hon. Friends? Does he appreciate that, whilst I agree with what my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition said yesterday, in congratulating the Government on providing one day for a debate on unemployment, one day is totally inadequate? That is shown by the...
Mr Thomas Urwin: In view of the highly controversial nature of the right hon. Gentleman's statement, may I ask whether there is any special significance about the fact that there does not appear to be on the Government Front Bench any representative of the upper echelons of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to listen to what the right hon. Gentleman says? Is he aware that only last week, in the forum of...
Mr Thomas Urwin: rose—
Mr Thomas Urwin: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I draw your attention to what I consider to be a grave anomaly arising from the responsibility of the Chair properly to observe the rights of minority parties in the House. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Silverman) is only the fourth member of the official Opposition to have participated in the debate. However, we have had a...
Mr Thomas Urwin: Indeed. The hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) has just been called, and I have no doubt that, in line with your responsibilities, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you will be compelled to call a representative of the Scottish National Party, which has only two Members in the House. In my view, a gross injustice has been done to members of the official Opposition, because it appears that no...
Mr Thomas Urwin: Will the right hon. Gentleman take into account in his advocacy of an incomes policy the fact that there is no possibility of such a policy succeeding unless it is closely allied to a prices and profits policy?
Mr Thomas Urwin: Is it not time that the Minister of State and his colleagues responsible for industry began to admit the abyssmal failure of their policies not only in the Northern region but in all the development areas and in areas such as the West Midlands which we have always regarded as the very seed corn of British industry? Why do not the Government completely review their existing policies and do...
