Mr Douglas Crawford: Is the hon. Member suggesting that the House of Lords should hold up the passage of the Bill?
Mr Douglas Crawford: rose—
Mr Douglas Crawford: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is time the hierarchy of the Scottish Arts Council was elected democratically by artists and their colleagues rather than appointed, as at present, on a "jobs for the boys" basis?
Mr Douglas Crawford: Leaving aside the Conservatives' imposition of the levy on the self-employed and their calls for further expenditure cuts, which will not help to provide jobs, what percentage growth rate does the right hon. Gentleman's Department expect in the Scottish economy in 1978?
Mr Douglas Crawford: asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he next intends to meet the Chairman of the British Railways Board.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the Minister tell the Chairman of British Rail when he sees him on Friday that in Scotland the state of rolling stock—locomotives and coaches—is an asbolute, total and utter disgrace? Will he tell the chairman to do something about it?
Mr Douglas Crawford: May I reassure the hon. Gentleman that there is no desire on the part of the Scottish National Party to break up the United Kingdom? What we are seeking to do is to dissolve the Union of Parliaments of 1707, not to break up the Union of the Crown of 1603. It is as simple as that.
Mr Douglas Crawford: The people of England have no say in this matter. It is up to the people of Scotland and not to the House of Commons or the people in England.
Mr Douglas Crawford: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next intends to meet the President of the EEC.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Now that unemployment in Scotland has reached 200,000, will the Minister give a categorical assurance that the Commission will do nothing to dismantle the temporary employment subsidy? We were told at referendum time that there would not be jobs for the boys in Europe. That is a very odd slogan now.
Mr Douglas Crawford: I hope that I shall not take words out of the hon. Gentleman's mouth, but what has been proposed by the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Cunningham) is a wrecking amendment. It is as simple as that.
Mr Douglas Crawford: Will the Minister tell the STUC that the Labour Government last night disgracefully voted against one of the things dearest to the heart of the STUC—namely, that the SDA should be devolved to the Scottish Assembly? Does he agree that the Government's vote against devolving the SDA to the Scottish Assembly will seriously hamper the SDA in its work?
Mr Douglas Crawford: Not only Bruce Rioch speaks with an English accent; so does the national treasurer of the SNP, who happens to be English.
Mr Douglas Crawford: It is all to do with the sovereignty of the nation.
Mr Douglas Crawford: I beg to move—[HON. MEMBERS; "Speak up."] I am enjoying listening to the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan).—[Interruption.]
Mr Douglas Crawford: I beg to move Amendment No. 465, in Schedule 10, page 48, line 4, at end insert:
Mr Douglas Crawford: In addition to the existence of an independent Church, a separate education system and a separate legal system, Scotland has for many years maintained the independence—in recent years it has been a growing independence and international outlook—of her financial community. There has been an increase in the vigour and enterprise of Scotland's financial system. In this context, perhaps I...
Mr Douglas Crawford: I shall come to that point later. I should like to quote some more remarks made by Sir Jeremy Morse.
Mr Douglas Crawford: I shall come back to this matter later. If we are going to quote from The Guardian, the hon. Member will have read—[Interruption.] I shall be happy to give way to the hon. Member for Dumfries (Mr. Monro), who seems to want to intervene from a sedentary position. What Sir Jeremy Morse said to the correspondent of The Guardian was this: Scottish independence would be more likely to lead to...
Mr Douglas Crawford: I thought that the hon. Member would be intervening on the subject of the Darien scheme. Barclays has about 35 per cent. of the shares in the bank of Scotland and I think that Williams and Glyn's and others have about 15 per cent. or 16 per cent. of the shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland.