Mr Andrew Hargreaves: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations she has received regarding amendments to the Education Bill relating to marriage and Christian values. [16061]
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: Will my right. hon. and hon. Friends on the Front Bench accept that there was widespread support on the Conservative Benches for the amendment moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh), and that there is rising concern among Christians, of both the Anglican and Roman Catholic faiths, about the position of Dr. Tate and the direction of the School Curriculum...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I suggest that the hon. Member for Tyne Bridge (Mr. Clelland) looks up Viscount Goschen's noble antecedent, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor. He had an interesting political career, sitting on the Liberal as well as the Tory Benches; he was quite a statesman in his day. In a...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: Very close to Dounreay. I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland will excuse me for saying that I believe that, viewed from Caithness, Westminster is a long way away. Anyone watching television and seeing things happening at Westminster rather than in Edinburgh or elsewhere in Scotland will find it difficult not to get the idea that government is becoming remote...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: No. I have 10 minutes, and I shall therefore not give way. If the Labour party does not address the West Lothian question, and does not clarify its taxation policy for a Scottish Parliament or a Scottish Assembly, we shall accuse it of depending for its majority, undemocratically, on a surfeit of Scottish Members spending predominantly English taxpayers' money, while English Members have no...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: The hon. Lady referred to Conservative Members from her region. I represent an area further south that makes motor cars. Rover and Land Rover are virtually within spitting distance of my constituency, although not in it. She does her own region proud in her defence of it. I do not feel that the decision is so much a reflection on Merseyside itself, as the hon. Lady seemed to be saying. It...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: I would declare an interest if that were appropriate, having worked as a fine arts auctioneer. I am sure that the Government would be only too happy to avail themselves of the services, for nothing, of such experts, so that a proper value can be put on the firearms. In any case, the Government could recoup some of the costs by auctioning some of the finer firearms, which otherwise would...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: It is an honour and a privilege to follow the hon. and learned Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Campbell). In particular, I agree with what he said about those who serve in Northern Ireland because my brother is currently serving there. I congratulate him on his remarks about the rather extraordinary speech by the Opposition defence spokesman, the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark)...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: Answer the question.
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: rose—
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: The electors in Carlisle voted for you.
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: As my hon. Friend and other interested colleagues know, the subject of the maritime reconnaissance aircraft replacement is currently very much on everyone's minds. I wonder how he would fit what he has just said into that framework. There are obviously a number of contenders. We perhaps have access to the Minister's ear, and decisions may soon be made. Does my hon. Friend accept that the most...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on Third Reading. As you and your predecessor in the Chair will have gathered, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I have reservations about aspects of the Bill, but before I mention them it might be useful if I explain to Opposition Front Benchers, who have suggested that every Conservative speaker is merely filibustering to prevent the arrival...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: My hon. Friend is being very patient with us, but I return to the anxieties expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Mr. Thomason) in his amendment. Footpaths run from my constituency to his, passing from the urban area out of the city of Birmingham into the leafy shire of Hereford and Worcester, through fields and meadows. I am afraid that an officious council, teamed by...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: On the point of exclusion, will it have to be a positive exclusion, or is there an implicit exclusion in the amendment?
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: May I take my hon. Friend a short distance up the motorway from Hampstead heath, to Birmingham, where there are many woodlands—in particular, Moseley bog, although why that should have anything to do with Hampstead heath, I do not know. Around Birmingham, residents of the towns use woodlands—natural areas—as much as those that are frequented in the countryside. It would be ludicrous to...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: I do not share my hon. Friend's confidence in local authorities' ability to show sensitivity or good faith. The fact that so many local authorities are populated by people similar to the hon. Member for North-West Durham (Ms Armstrong), who does not have a dog and has no sympathy for dog owners—she has shown by all the remarks she has made, and will no doubt show by those she is about to...
Mr Andrew Hargreaves: rose—
