Mr Barry Henderson: Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the most significant economic trends is that Scotland has moved from being one of the lowest paid to one of the wealthiest areas in the United Kingdom, during which period the United Kingdom has enjoyed five years of continuous economic growth?
Mr Barry Henderson: Will my right hon. and learned Friend tell the House something about the figures for the comparative prices of generating electricity by nuclear and by coal-fired methods and the amount of pollution that each method produces? Does he agree that there has been no significant change about whether or not Torness should have been built since the time when the Labour Government were in office and...
Mr Barry Henderson: Does my hon. Friend accept that although it is important to get this matter right, it is unfortunate that his Department has come along comparatively late in the day inviting further consideration of the position in Kirkcaldy? Is he aware that the people of Fife are grateful for the amount of new building that has been provided under this Government, one measure of which is that the rates...
Mr Barry Henderson: Does my hon. and learned Friend accept that while one wants to see complaints made against the police properly and fully investigated, it is equally important, when frivolous or malicious complaints are made, that the full rigour of the law is taken against people who distract the police and other officers of justice from their proper duties?
Mr Barry Henderson: Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way to control drugs and the spread of AIDS would be to encourage more self-discipline and higher moral standards among the population at large? Is he surprised that he has not heard more from the Churches on this subject?
Mr Barry Henderson: As many of the hon. Members who represent Strathclyde are Labour Members, was my hon. Friend not surprised that none of them came forward when the Ministry of Defence announced the Harland and Wolff order, one third of the value of which is to be spent in Strathclyde? Is that not an excellent example of how employment in that area is being helped?
Mr Barry Henderson: Will my hon. and learned Friend accept that it would assist decisions about prosecutions if local authorities were required to keep separately their expenditure on statutory duties as opposed to their expenditure on other matters? For example, Fife regional council has spent more per head on education than any other education authority in Scotland and it claims that it is short of money for...
Mr Barry Henderson: Is my right hon. Friend aware that many people will want to congratulate him on a well-judged statement? Is he able to state the significance in scope and value to the Clyde of the Harland and Wolff order?
Mr Barry Henderson: A number of hon. Members from the Conservative party also applaud the Select Committee on Transport's proposals to abolish tolls on estuarial crossings. It would be helpful to have a debate on that subject before the Government reply to the Select Committee report, so that the argument may be advanced that the main costs on providing those estuarial crossings was to continue the exceptional...
Mr Barry Henderson: rose—
Mr Barry Henderson: Was that the same speech in which the right hon. Gentleman advocated what is essentially a free enterprise economy between the universities in competing for students?
Mr Barry Henderson: The hon. Gentleman has raised a serious matter. Does he agree that a problem arises when we have a remote control system operated by the Department of Education and Science in England through local education authorities? If education authorities choose to spend their money on what some of us might think are less essential matters, which are not part of their education duty, it is difficult to...
Mr Barry Henderson: It would have depended on who they were.
Mr Barry Henderson: Can the hon. Gentleman tell me the political complexion of the authority that allowed that development to go ahead? Can he honestly put his hand on his heart and say that the opportunities for the objectors from Anderston were any greater than were the opportunities for the objectors to this scheme? Is it not the case with this proposal that only one house is to he taken away, which was not...
Mr Barry Henderson: Will not the relief that will arise on the A8 coming in from Glasgow, in turn relieve the general pressure on traffic coming into Edinburgh from the Forth bridge direction? If some of the traffic opted to come in on the A8 route, and if there were less pressure on the road, would that not help traffic coming into Edinburgh from either the west or north?
Mr Barry Henderson: Has my right hon. and learned Friend noticed that the Opposition parties have begun to draw attention to the practical difficulties that arise from an independent review embracing both pay and conditions? Is it not the case that if the suggestion made by the hon. Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes) last February had been adopted and the Scottish joint negotiating...
Mr Barry Henderson: It seems to me that it ill becomes COSLA to highlight these figures, which are to a degree an indictment of the inadequacy of local authorities to look after the housing stock in years gone by, indeed when the Labour Government were in office. Is it not the case that local authorities have always had a duty to look after their housing stock both in the public and in the private sector? They...
Mr Barry Henderson: The hon. Gentleman, as a fair man, will recognise that many of the Scottish housing problems to which he has referred, problems that we all recognise as being severe, have been with us for a long time. It is surprising that these problems have suddenly come to the notice of the Labour party.
Mr Barry Henderson: On a point of order. Is it in order for an hon. Member to give a tendentious description of the deliberations of a Select Committee on a report that has never been published?
Mr Barry Henderson: Surely the local authorities should have been establishing for a long time what the problems are if they were serious about maintaining their housing stock. I submit that if there is a problem on the scale suggested by the hon. Gentleman, local authorities have not been doing their job properly.