Mr Douglas Crawford: On a further point of order, Mr. Thomas. Like the right hon. Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher), I do not query the accuracy of the selection of amendments. However, perhaps I might question its fairness. Neither the Scottish National Party nor Plaid Cymru is represented on the Standing Committee considering the Finance Bill. No amendment tabled in the name of either party has been selected...
Mr Douglas Crawford: I agree with what has been said by the hon. Members for Basingstoke (Mr. Mitchell) and Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley). I hope that, in turn, they will agree with me that large companies do not just happen. Large companies grow from small companies: Tall oaks from little acorns grow. And small companies are based on the efforts of men of vision, entrepreneurs. I echo what has been...
Mr Douglas Crawford: If the hon. Member says that the Labour Government are responsible for as much devastation in Scotland as was caused by the Highlands clearances, who does he say was responsible for the Highlands clearances?
Mr Douglas Crawford: I do not intend to pull the heartstrings of the Committee as other hon. Members have done. However, I should like to endorse the amendment proposed by the hon. Member for Guildford (Mr. Howell) and to point out something which may not have occurred to him—namely, that the Bill, as it stands, is a positive discrimination against Scotland because we save more per head than the rest of the...
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the hon. Gentleman agree with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Industry that a Scottish steel corporation should not be set up, or does he think that a Scottish steel corporation should be set up?
Mr Douglas Crawford: When the Secretary of State meets the Scottish TUC, the CBI and the Scottish Council, will he discuss the possibility of establishing venture capital, as a combination of both Government and private industrial money, which could be used to invest in entrepreneurs in Scotland, whatever their nationality, so that the flow of decision-makers out of Scotland can be reversed?
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the Minister accept that the news that certain things are to be examined before we decide whether or not to build the tunnel will be most welcome in Scotland? Does he also agree that what the people of Scotland want is either a scrapping of the tunnel or, if that does not happen, no financial burden being placed on the people of Scotland? Will he not further agree that the people of...
Mr Douglas Crawford: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received concerning the rerouting of the proposed M90 motorway through Glenfarg.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the Minister give the completion date for the Edinburgh-Perth motorway, and will the Government also bring up to standard that motorway, including the hard shoulders?
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the Minister explain why natural gas found in English waters is sold to Scotland from England at the highest across-the-border price Europe?
Mr Douglas Crawford: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Would it not be more useful for the House to have as the main and immediate reply to the Minister's speech a contribution from the party that is now the second party in Scotland, namely, the SNP?
Mr Douglas Crawford: Surely the Government will have to be Draconian only in a United Kingdom and not necessarily in a Scottish context.
Mr Douglas Crawford: The hon. Member said that if the matter were dealt with in a Scottish global context the Government would have to be Draconian. Since Scotland does not need to extract the oil as quickly as does the United Kingdom a Scottish Government would not need to be as Draconian as a United Kingdom Government.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Does the hon. Gentleman accept that if one extracts oil at 50 million tons a year it will last three times as long as if it were extracted at 150 million tons?
Mr Douglas Crawford: My conclusion is that the hon. Gentleman's argument is that the oil off Shetland or the gas off Great Yarmouth belongs to the world and not even to the United Kingdom.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Devolution.
Mr Douglas Crawford: rose—
Mr Douglas Crawford: Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer agree that part of the reason for the unacceptable rate of inflation is the unacceptable cost to all the countries of this island of London, with its centralisation, congestion and associated weighting allowances on salaries?
Mr Douglas Crawford: As a parliamentary veteran of two or three weeks, may I join in the congratulations to the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. Corbett). We who travel a lot between Scotland and London know Hemel Hempstead quite well. If I may bowdlerise Dr. Johnson, with the Scottish economy facing a tremendous growth the noblest sight for a Scotsman may be the railway north leading to Scotland. Although I...
Mr Douglas Crawford: In making my maiden speech I should like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Ian MacArthur. As I said when the result for my constituency was declared, if I can be as good a constituency Member of Parliament as he was I shall have achieved much. I agreed with the hon. Member for Renfrewshire, West (Mr. Buchan) when he condemned the birch. But there agreement ends. If we are anti-English, why do...