Mr John Butcher: My hon. Friend will be aware that the United States is looking increasingly eastwards towards Japan and the Pacific basin as the areas of more dynamic growth and trade than that offered by Europe. As a counter to that trend, is my hon. Friend prepared to encourage negotiations to establish a north Atlantic free trade area, which would dynamise the economies of the western European ports, such...
Mr John Butcher: Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the major impediments to reducing unemployment across Europe is high wage costs—not to be confused with high wages? We must continually draw a distinction between the high cost of employment loaded on top of paying high wages. Will he continue his efforts diplomatically within Europe to ensure that we in Britain win the argument that there is no...
Mr John Butcher: I am grateful to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity to explain my reasons for voting Aye in the first vote and for voting against the motion as amended in the second vote. I owe this explanation to my hon. Friends and, in particular, to my right hon. and true Friend the Prime Minister. I make it clear that I have always believed that it is possible to be against the...
Mr John Butcher: I shall not give way if there is still a 10-minute time limit on speeches. I do not know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, if the rule is still in force.
Mr John Butcher: The short answer to my hon. Friend's second question is yes. I grew up in the high-tech industries and I am proud of my continuing connections with them. If the 48-hour rule were brought in, it would not damage the so-called sweatshop industries as much as the high-tech industries. My hon. Friend would find that systems analysts, programmers, installation engineers and the people who...
Mr John Butcher: May I ask my hon. Friend to grasp Sir John Banham warmly by the throat and to ask him not to tinker with history and our heritage? He will be cheered to the echo if he gets rid of the aberration of Avon and restores the traditional county boundaries for all purposes other than local government, but if he carries on inventing history, or reinventing history, by, for example, creating an East...
Mr John Butcher: Does my hon. Friend agree that, of all the countries in the European Community, Britain more than any other shares with the United States a common attitude and a common policy to free trade? Does he therefore agree that Britain is uniquely placed to lead a discussion with the United States Government on the creation of a North Atlantic free trade area encompassing north America and the EEC,...
Mr John Butcher: Will my right hon. Friend take this opportunity to congratulate my constituents and all employees of the Jaguar car company, in particular the highly skilled development engineers who so outperformed their foreign counterparts that they won the Le Mans 24-hour, race? Will my right hon. Friend go further and tell people at large that there has been an improvement out of all recognition at...
Mr John Butcher: Does my hon. Friend agree that, when it comes to manufactured exports, what distinguishes manufacturers from the service sector is that manufacturing is more capital intensive? Does he further agree that there may be a danger that our progress in recovering from recession may be affected by a shortfall of capital in the small firms manufacturing sector? Will he, therefore, as the champion on...
Mr John Butcher: I refer the hon. Gentleman to some questions tabled by the then Labour Front-Bench spokesman, the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw), about the effect on the tax take of reducing the top income tax rate from 60p to 40p. What he discovered in hostile questions was that not only the cash amount from the richest section of the community increased but the proportion which the richest section of the...
Mr John Butcher: May we have a debate on the salaries of Members of Parliament and of Ministers? Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if the words of the Maastricht treaty mean what they say, over the next five of six years there will be a gradual transfer of powers from this House to Brussels and, morally, there should be a commensurate reduction in the salaries of Members of Parliament accordingly? If my...
Mr John Butcher: Does my right hon. Friend agree that business surveys show that small and medium-sized manufacturing companies are concerned about the shortage of risk capital for those unquoted companies? Does he further agree that there would be a dramatic effect in our competitive position vis-a-vis our fellow Europeans if this country were to consider the radical measure of abolishing capital taxation,...
Mr John Butcher: My hon. Friend is putting forward an excellent case, but he may be understating it. In recent years we have seen diaspora of jobs out of Germany. The biggest recipient of jobs from Germany within Europe, in terms of its measured outward investment in the Community, is the United Kingdom. German industrialists are thinking seriously about the pretty pass that the on-costs of social legislation...
Mr John Butcher: May I persuade my right hon. Friend to arrange a debate on the effects of the worldwide and domestic shortage of risk capital for investment, especially in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in this country? Does he share my sense of urgency, because that shortage of capital for small unquoted companies may impede our industrial recovery? If, for example, we were to signal the...
Mr John Butcher: If my right hon. and learned Friend's announcement today means that we may get back a Coventry and Warwickshire police force, it will be warmly welcomed by my constituents. My right hon. and learned Friend is under great pressure to do something about juvenile crime and about unpicking the defects of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. What will he see as his first priority in the limited...
Mr John Butcher: Does my right hon. Friend agree that, perhaps as we speak, an awesome tragedy is unfolding in Russia? If the situation in Russia continues to deteriorate, serious repercussions may affect us all and dwarf virtually any other subject for discussion in this House. Is this not the time to send a clear signal to Boris Yeltsin and the Russian people—
Mr John Butcher: I would welcome a statement, because the subject could not be more topical or more urgent. Is it not time that we sent a signal from this House to the Russian people that we admire them, that we want to see them part of Europe, that we admire their culture and science, that we want to send a trade mission and that we want to welcome them into the international community? If we do not act now,...
Mr John Butcher: Does my hon. Friend agree that, given Russia's awful problems at the moment, the last thing the Russian people need is a rampant fourth estate? Does he further agree that the term tragedy is not an understatement as there is a high risk of immense problems and sadnesses emerging inside Russia which should be the top priority of the Foreign Office? Perhaps that should exercise the bulk of our...
Mr John Butcher: May I persuade my hon. Friend to seek a special derogation from Brussels to raise the VAT threshold to £100,000, as the collection of VAT from a large number of small companies raises a small sum and incurs huge costs, whereas collecting from the bigger companies raises the bulk of the money at a small cost? This would do much for job creation at a time when we are looking for optimistic...
Mr John Butcher: I am most grateful for the hon. Lady's courtesy in giving way. She is now, I think, implying that one of the criteria for representation, in line with the regional aid criteria, should be the relative prosperity or poverty of particular regions. If three English regions have lower per capita income than Scotland, and if the Welsh region has a lower per capita income than Scotland, does this...