Sir Peter Emery: May I declare a non-financial interest as chairman of the National Asthma Campaign? Has the Minister seen reports of research done at Oxford, showing that heart and lung disease are now major killers, and that the biggest cause of such deaths is smoking? Will she ensure that the money spent on nicotine replacement therapy is not misused or used ineffectively, in view of a major campaign by...
Sir Peter Emery: Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that, on the date of publication of the report, the Prime Minister went public, and on television two hours before the report was published, made references to recommendations in the report and rubbished the report as he could not have done unless he had been shown part of the report or it recommendations? How is it possible that that could have happened...
Sir Peter Emery: The Foreign Secretary must know that all of us hope that on 15 March solutions can be found and we can go forward without resorting to bombing. If that is the case, all sides will deserve to be congratulated. Can the Foreign Secretary say what will happen after the three-year period? Is there to be Serbian law in Kosovo? Is there to be an entire new structure of law? What is the position...
Sir Peter Emery: May I return the right hon. Gentleman to the subject of the safety of the OSCE monitors in Kosovo? There are now more than 2,000 there, of whom 350 are British. If bombing happens, would it not be much more likely that they would be attacked by Serb forces? What are the right hon. Gentleman's thoughts in his work with the OSCE management about the safety of those men? They are unarmed and...
Sir Peter Emery: I have two questions for the right hon. Lady. The first is entirely non-political and concerns the House. I am sorry that I have not given her notice of it. Will she consider the response by Ministers to written questions for a named day? She will recall the recommendations of the Procedure Committee, which were accepted 10 or 12 years ago, on the Government's practice of postponing answers...
Sir Peter Emery: I wanted a statement next week on the issue.
Sir Peter Emery: It is quite obvious. I should not be doing it otherwise. My second question is on the Foreign Affairs Committee report. May we have a full day's debate? I was most concerned to hear the right hon. Lady say that the report contains "nothing new". None of the Committee members believes that. Indeed, had the right hon. Lady read the report instead of repeating it at second hand, she would not...
Sir Peter Emery: The hon. Lady is talking about fairness. East Devon district council has no debt. It is so efficiently run that there is no long-term indebtedness. Despite that, its grant was cut last year, and this year it has not been restored to the level that existed before the Labour party took office. How can that be fair?
Sir Peter Emery: Object.
Sir Peter Emery: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Do you not think that there is something very wrong with appointing a Select Committee when the Government have already announced—I think quite wrongly—that a £90 fee will be imposed across the board on all food outlets, irrespective of size or location?
Sir Peter Emery: As the right hon. Lady said, the last statement on Lords reform by a Leader of the House was made by Mr. Crossman, so she might care to recall what happened to him and to that statement. She talks about this House being the pre-eminent Chamber and about the recommendations on the role and functions of a second Chamber. This House can be pre-eminent although considerable powers—much greater...
Sir Peter Emery: Is President Kabbah in Freetown or in Conakry, and is our high commissioner, Mr. Penfold, with him? If he is, has the Foreign Office ensured that, this time, the high commissioner has secure communications with London—something that was missing during the previous situation? Lastly, the Foreign Secretary said that we were supplying non-lethal equipment to ECOMOG. If it requested lethal...
Sir Peter Emery: Will the right hon. Gentleman use as support the resolution that was passed in Vienna on Friday by the 55 nations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe? It was jointly sponsored by the Russians and the Americans and called on all parties in Kosovo to co-operate with the International War Crimes Tribunal to investigate possible crimes...
Sir Peter Emery: The hilarity was in response to not knowing who would speak for the Government; it had nothing to do with our service men. They are the last people any of us would wish to laugh at. If our forces are to be deployed, will the Government have by tomorrow made up their mind whether the House will be recalled to deal with this very serious matter? I cannot expect the right hon. Lady to answer...
Sir Peter Emery: I congratulate the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Sheldon) on his remarks. I found myself unable to disagree with almost anything he said. He is a man of great experience, and new Members should pay particular attention to his comments. I also congratulate the Leader of the House on the way that she acted as the Chairman of the Committee. She did so with charm and understanding,...
Sir Peter Emery: I am delighted that I gave way, because I wish to clear the matter up. The right hon. Lady appears not to be entirely au fait with the procedures of the House. If motion 4 were passed and no amendment had been tabled, the House would have no opportunity to consider the alternative, because every other motion would fall. However, if the amendment to motion 4 is put, the Government are in a...
Sir Peter Emery: The right hon. Lady shakes her head, but which point does she not understand? If the House wishes to consider the possibility of questions at 2.30 and Standing Committees not meeting at 9 am, the only way in which that can be done—given the procedure adopted by the Government—is to defeat the Government's first motion.
Sir Peter Emery: I have—[Interruption.] If I may continue, I must tell the Leader of the House that, if that is what she was saying, the Select Committee was misled. [Interruption.] I should like to finish. I can deal with only one intervention at a time. The Committee was determined to ensure that two options should be available to the House. If I had believed that we would not be able to debate the...
Sir Peter Emery: I have never had a high opinion of what the Liberal Democrats say about the right way of dealing with things. It is immensely important to understand that, without the amendment being tabled, the House would have had no chance to show by a vote the number of hon. Members who want the alternative rather than the Government's option. To anyone who believes, as the hon. Member for North Cornwall...
Sir Peter Emery: I did not attend the last meeting of the Committee, but there was no doubt that the majority wanted to change to meeting at 11.30 am. I accept that, and, as a pragmatist, I know that there is no way in which that change can be defeated. The House has not even started to consider the difficulties of the Government's motion. Standing Committees would meet at 9 am. It is all very well to say...
