Mr Raymond Robertson: On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You may have seen the report in The Scotsman that the electoral registration officer in Tayside has ordered an urgent inquiry into the possible misuse and misrepresentation of postal and proxy votes in Dundee, in particular the case of a 91-year-old woman who has had her postal vote changed to a proxy vote in the name of a Labour activist to whom she gave...
Mr Raymond Robertson: With regard to electoral matters, do you have any authority to institute an inquiry into the misuse of postal votes and vote-rigging in another Labour authority?
Mr Raymond Robertson: On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek your guidance on the way in which the House deals with Scottish legislation. You may be aware that the Leader of the Opposition said on Sunday: All Bills that affect Scotland now, I mean a lot of people don't actually know this, go through a Scottish Grand Committee. There's a separate procedure altogether for it. Am I right in thinking that the...
Mr Raymond Robertson: In an effort to foster greater understanding of how the House deals with Scottish business, will my right hon. Friend consider holding a series of seminars on the way in which the House operates? As a matter of urgency, will he invite the Leader of the Opposition to the first one, as on Sunday he showed an alarming ignorance about how the House deals with Scottish business?
Mr Raymond Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress is being made in incorporating value-added indicators in the performance data available in Scottish schools; and if he will make a statement. [13632]
Mr Raymond Robertson: Does my hon. Friend agree that despite the scaremongering and the misrepresentation of the Opposition, Scottish parents have come to value the information given by schools? Does he further agree that information should not be restricted simply to examination results, but should cover as many areas as possible in the life of a school, so that parents, teachers and pupils know as much as...
Mr Raymond Robertson: rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put.
Mr Raymond Robertson: Does my right hon. Friend agree that the real danger facing local government in Scotland comes from plans to create a directly elected Scottish Assembly which, in order to play a worthwhile role in the life of Scotland, would certainly take power from this House and would also take powers and responsibilities from every one of the new unitary local authorities throughout Scotland, thereby...
Mr Raymond Robertson: Is my hon. Friend aware that in the recent local government elections in the city of Aberdeen, the Scottish National party and the Liberal Democrats paid a heavy price for the policies of their parties' administration on Grampian regional council, which wilfully hiked up council tax and sold prime chunks of the city of Aberdeen without any regard to local residents or, indeed, to the city or...
Mr Raymond Robertson: Tripe.
Mr Raymond Robertson: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Raymond Robertson: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman but there is a protocol in this place whereby we give way to an hon. Member if we refer specifically to him and he rises to intervene. Whether the hon. Gentleman is right about people wanting to bring back the belt in schools is beside the point. We are talking about clarifying the law to give protection to children—in some instances, small...
Mr Raymond Robertson: I want to ask a question.
Mr Raymond Robertson: We are trying to give clearer parameters to the courts than they currently have. The court may decide what is reasonable in the circumstances. At the moment, there is no guidance at all. As the hon. Gentleman keeps asking me questions and not letting me answer any of them, I shall ask him a question, as he has the chance to answer. Has he read the Scottish Law Commission's report on the...
Mr Raymond Robertson: Of course we are trying to implement the same principles. However, when hon. Members go through the Lobby tonight, they should consider the fact that we are about to make a judgment based on a recommendation of the Scottish Law Commission on how we can prevent physical violence against even the smallest children. That should be weighed in the balance and should persuade hon. Members on both...
Mr Raymond Robertson: The hon. Gentleman should listen to the charge before he pleads guilty to it. To make an allegation of political correctness against Lord Davidson, Dr. Clive, Professor Love, Sheriff Macphail and Mr. W. A. Nimmo Smith QC is perverse in the extreme. However, it is an indication of the weakness of the case of the hon. Member for Ayr. At least the hon. Member for Ayr has the honesty to say that...
Mr Raymond Robertson: In all fairness, if I thought that that was the case, I would not support the new clause tonight. I do not believe that if the hon. Gentleman had read the Scottish Law Commission report, he would have reached that conclusion. The commission considered the issue in enormous depth and it consulted widely, here and abroad, and reached its conclusion. It stated that its proposal, which is the...
Mr Raymond Robertson: Does my right hon. Friend share the concern of many of my constituents about malpractice in local government? Has he seen the recent independent report on Monklands district council showing that, where the Labour party is in power, it cannot be trusted not to abuse it?
Mr Raymond Robertson: On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you received an application for a private notice question from either the hon. Member for Monklands, West (Mr. Clarke) or the hon. Member for Monklands, East (Mrs. Liddell)?
Mr Raymond Robertson: I am grateful for this opportunity to present a petition of more than 10,500 names in conjunction with the hon. Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Hughes). It has been signed by people of the city of Aberdeen and north-east Scotland who disagree strongly with the decision to relocate the Food Science Laboratory at Torry in my constituency to the Central Science Laboratory at York. The petition...