Mr Harold Walker: Is the Leader of the House satisfied that he has got his priorities right? Where, in the course of all the business that he has announced today, is the opportunity for Ministers to explain how they will respond to the grave problem facing 800 of my constituents, the loss of whose jobs has been announced today—200 at the former railway workshops as a consequence of the Government's...
Mr Harold Walker: The right hon. Gentleman seems to be arguing in favour of giving employers incentives to remain small employers, since encouraging them to use the same staff to work longer hours discourages them from expanding. At its logical extreme, the point seems to be that employers should dismiss employees so as to stay below whatever threshold is set.
Mr Harold Walker: Will the Minister give way?
Mr Harold Walker: I would not question the importance that the Minister is placing on safety, but I wonder whether he will comment on the case of my constituent, who is a one-eyed lorry driver. As he was unemployed, he was encouraged to invest in a lorry which he now owns himself. He will now be deprived of his livelihood and his savings that he invested in that lorry. Is there no possibility of compensation...
Mr Harold Walker: I received an anguished telephone call today from one of my constituents who was induced to undertake a three-year course, the first year of which expires this September, when I understand that student will face a cut of £1,000 in grant and, having been encouraged to take the course, will no longer be able to continue it. That is horrendous and disgraceful. Although £1,000 may be marginal...
Mr Harold Walker: Will the Minister comment on the absurd inequities of basing water charges on long outdated historical rateable values? Only today, I received a letter from a Mrs. Woolford, who writes: I enclose copies of the water rates for 3 first floor flats all within 50 yards of each other, all of which rightly are in band A for the council tax.Each flat has 1 bath, 1 toilet, 1 wash basin"— yet the...
Mr Harold Walker: Do the Government ever have regard to the employment consequences of their decisions? After the devastation of the coal mining industry and the railway manufacturing industry, my constituents have become increasingly dependent on the jobs provided by RAF Finningley, and now the Secretary of State is to wipe them away, too. Will he have regard to the employment consequences and say something...
Mr Harold Walker: Characteristically, a large trading estate sites Do It All, Allied Carpets, MFI and B and Q cheek by jowl. The hon. Lady is proposing that Do It All and B and Q should be allowed to open when we are telling Allied Carpets and MFI to shut shop. Allied Carpets sells carpets identical with those on sale at B and Q, which can be delivered. Doubtless, those carpets will be sold after 4 o'clock,...
Mr Harold Walker: The right hon. Gentleman has provoked me with his references to freedom of information and the work of the Committee to which he belongs. Only today, I listened to a discussion on the radio about a prison which is due to open in my constituency. All kinds of revelations are common knowledge in the United States and these reports have been published about the prison, but the Home Office...
Mr Harold Walker: The Minister said that, at the time when the Gill inquiry's terms of reference were announced, no objections were voiced. That was because we assumed at the time that, within those terms of reference, Mr. Gill would have an opportunity to do what he subsequently said that he was required not to do. When the terms of reference were published, they contained no statement that Mr. Gill would...
Mr Harold Walker: I welcome this opportunity to raise certain tragic events that occurred in my constituency—events that caused widespread concern and deep grief; events to which the Secretary of State's response has been wholly inadequate. On 30 March 1991 Carol Barratt was in the Frenchgate shopping centre in Doncaster, where she threatened a young lady with a knife. She was arrested, and later, following...
Mr Harold Walker: The Minister has quite properly paid tribute to the professionalism of the men and women of the Royal Air Force. I hope that he has in mind the professionalism of and the service given by those who preceded the present generation. The hon. Gentleman is no doubt aware that 1994 is the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the jet fighter aircraft—the Meteor having gone into service with...
Mr Harold Walker: I have listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman. Will he give me a little advice on how to reply to a constituent who wrote to me yesterday? An elderly lady who is going progressively blind because of cataracts has been told that she will have to wait 62 weeks for an appointment for the consultant even to examine her. Will the hon. Gentleman tell me how I might best advise my constituent?
Mr Harold Walker: The regulations have their roots in the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, which, as one who shared the responsibility of taking it through the House, I remember well. Any pride that I had in announcing what I thought and still think is, on the whole, a dramatic leap forward in the provision of health and safety in mines has been severely dented by our proceedings today. The Act was...
Mr Harold Walker: The Minister is giving the House the impression that the Health and Safety Commission was unanimous in its decision. Will he make it clear that the TUC representatives were totally opposed to the proposals?
Mr Harold Walker: I want to support my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster; North (Mr. Hughes) who has outlined a tragic case. I attended the official opening of Thorpe Marsh power station. little thinking that I would have the sad experience of bemoaning the consequences of its closure in the House. The Minister will recall that I recently led a deputation with my hon. Friend about the appalling consequences...
Mr Harold Walker: Did not the Select Committee make it clear that its recommendations should be taken as a comprehensive whole? It is therefore wrong for the Secretary of State to pick the bits that suit his case and then to claim to support the report. Is he aware that his statement today is an economic disaster for Doncaster? He talks about the marketplace. I am concerned about the job marketplace in...
Mr Harold Walker: Possibly I am the only Member present who was a Member of Parliament when industrial tribunals were introduced. I do not recall the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile), the spokesman for the Liberal party, being present. Bearing in mind that he is a lawyer, probably fishing for work, may I tell him that the original purpose in excluding legal aid was precisely the reason...
Mr Harold Walker: Further to the point of order, Madam Speaker, and with the greatest respect, I very much appreciate your ruling, but would it not have been better had the Secretary of State responded to it? As I understand it, we are having a debate during the course of which there may well be reference to a document that is available but copies of which have been denied to most hon. Members. That is an...
Mr Harold Walker: The Secretary of State reminded us that it was almost exactly 13 years ago that the then Secretary of State for Employment, now Lord Prior, introduced a Bill with the statement that Conservative party policy in industrial relations was a "step by step" approach. On that occasion I said to the House from the Dispatch Box that that statement was not an off-the-cuff piece of rhetoric but a...