Mr Jeffrey Thomas: I have a great deal of sympathy with the Minister's views on this aspect of the law, but would he not agree that one difficulty might be that unless there were some clear definition of obscenity a jury in one part of the country could take a different view from a jury in another part? In the end it would become a matter of value judgments on the part of individual jurors, and it could lead to...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: Mr. Jeffrey Thomas (Abertillery) rose—
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: I hope that the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Hooson) will forgive me if I do not follow the lines of his speech too closely. We on the Opposition benches will agree that the most depressing feature of the debate so far is that there has been no indication that the Government have any idea of the gravity of the economic situation in the Principality. They have given us no idea...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: It is extraordinary that in answer to a perfectly straightforward and proper request from my hon. Friend the Member for Ebbw Vale the Secretary of State should stubbornly—it is a stubbornness to which we are becoming more and more accustomed—refuse to give any undertaking or promise about the decision relating to Ebbw Vale, but in my view that runs counter to the Prime Minister's promise...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: Is it not yet obvious to the Secretary of State that the people of Wales want straight answers to straight questions? That is what this is all about. May I take this opportunity of underlining what my hon. Friend the Member for Ebbw Vale said and nailing one blatant piece of misrepresentation in which the Secretary of State persists. On no fewer than four occasions I have heard the right hon....
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: I hope that the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Iain Sproat) will forgive me if I do not follow what he has said. By the same token I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Smethwick (Mr. Faulds) will forgive me. In the cold light of day, when he reflects on some of his remarks, I think that my hon. Friend will come to regret them. I believe the day will come when this House is far...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: asked the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the British Steel Corporation and the Welsh Council regarding the contributions which the steel industry will make to the Welsh economy over the next decade.
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: Is not that answer a thoroughly unsatisfactory if not irresponsible one? Is the Secretary of State saying that before the BSC made its announcement about the 4,500 redundancies at Ebbw Vale he had no discussions with the BSC and the Welsh Council? Will he tell the House whether he regards the position of Mr. Mel Rosser as Chairman of the Welsh Council as somewhat embarrassing in view of his...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: In view of that astounding answer, may I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman whether he is not aware that there are now 12,000 totally unemployed in Monmouthshire, a figure which represents a 6 per cent. increase in 12 months and a 35 per cent. escalation since 1970? Is not the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware further that there has been a drop of 66 per cent. in the number of...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: There are at least some 600 jobs in prospect in the travel-to-work area and two advance factories are being built, one in Ebbw Vale and one at New Tredegar. The Question relates to the study, and Brynmawr is part of the area covered by the study referred to in Question No. 26.
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: asked the Secretary of State for Wales when he proposes to publish a report on the future development of the Heads of the Valleys area.
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: There is a desperate situation now in the Heads of the Valley area, with redundancies first in ICI Fibres and now in prospect at Ebbw Vale. To adopt his own phrase, will the Secretary of State shake his bones and tell us what new policies the Government have to offer and exactly what action they will take to solve the problem in the Heads of the Valley? Further, will he acknowledge that it is...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: In view of the mounting anxiety in Monmouthshire about this matter will the Secretary of State agree that he has given an incredibly complacent answer? Would he not further agree that the directors of ICI have behaved in a thoroughly diabolical and inhuman way about the whole affair? Will he look again at the many contracts which the Government have with ICI with a view, if necessary, to...
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The right hon. and learned Gentleman has just spoken of my right hon. Friend in a most abusive fashion. Will he not agree that he is the gentleman who is so—
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: Does not the hon. Gentleman agree that only a Government as insensitive and stupid as the present Government would, having regard to what the hon. Gentleman says about the miners and other workers, have agreed to the lavish increases for heads of nationalised industries and so on?
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: I do not believe it.
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: On how many occasions have officials from the right hon. Gentleman's office visited Brussels, and how many visits are proposed in the near future?
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: How often?
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: The Question is about staffing. The staffing needs of the Welsh Office for this and other purposes are kept under constant review. In advance it is not possible to say precisely what the eventual needs will be, but I expect that some additional posts will be created this year.
Mr Jeffrey Thomas: I can give my hon. Friend an unequivocal assurance on that matter.
