Michael Gove: Michael Lyons argued that what is required is a balanced change to how the business rate operated. The removal of this relief was justifiable in the context of a balanced package of reforms. Instead of introducing such a balanced package, the Chancellor has chosen the quickest, dirtiest and most effective way of raising £1 billion. Talking of quick, dirty and effective, I am happy to give...
Clive Efford: I have listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman's speech, but he really cannot get away with the answer that he gave earlier about the Michael Brown money. Has he been approached by any of the people who have suffered from the fraud by Michael Brown, and has the Liberal party given any consideration to how he came by that money and whether it is morally obliged to give it back?
Mr Michael Maitland Stewart: I do not consider that if a man gives his son the right to live without working he is giving him a better chance. I think the man is giving his son something extremely mischievous.
Mr Michael Jopling: I understood my hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk, South (Mr. J. E. B. Hill) to ask me to give way, and I was giving way to him. If it is in order for me to give way to him—
Mr Michael Noble: The hon. Gentleman refers to lame ducks. I recall the statement he made in the Clothier some time ago about the clothing industry. Will he give us his definition of a lame duck? Would he give aid if he were in a position to give it?
Mr Michael Heseltine: I should like to help the right hon. Gentleman. The difficulty is that many figures are involved in this exercise. I am not prepared to give them across the Dispatch Box, but if the right hon. Gentleman will give me the detail of his question I shall do my best to give him an answer today.
Mr Michael Morris: Order. The hon. Gentleman cannot just stand on the Back Benches and ask the Secretary of State to give way. It is up to any right hon. or hon. Member to decide whether to give way. Clearly, the Secretary of State does not wish to give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Mr Michael Morris: I assure the hon. Gentleman that I did not assure anyone that there was any promise of the hon. Member for North Warwickshire (Mr. O'Brien) giving way. I said that the hon. Gentleman might give way later. It is entirely up to the hon. Gentleman whether he chooses to give way, and to whom.
Michael Howard: It always gives me great pleasure to give way to and deal with the interventions of the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Howarth), so I am delighted to give way to him now.
Michael Martin: Giving way is—[Interruption.] Perhaps the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) will listen to my response. He might learn something. Giving way is up to the individual Member. It is not for the Chair to decide whether a Member should give way.
Michael Martin: Order. The Minister does not seem to want to give way. [Hon. Members: "He should give way."] Whether he should or not, he does not want to give way.
Michael McGimpsey: I will give way to Mr Easton, although I am well aware that he and his colleague said yesterday that they do not give way to members of the Ulster Unionist Party. However, I am happy to give way to him.
Michael Meacher: I am extremely reluctant to give way. I will give way to the hon. Lady, because I respect her, but I will not give way again so as to be fair to everyone who wants to speak.
Michael Gove: I will give way to the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) in a second, but I will not give way to the hon. Gentlemen from the SNP. First, however, I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison).
Tim Loughton: Before I give way to the Minister, I should say that if she did not mention the Michael Stone case, I may have confused it with the John Barrett case. She has mentioned the Michael Stone case before. What is common to all those cases is that they show a failure of the system and the services in not being there to pick up those people when they needed to be picked up.
Michael Meacher: I should like to be able to give those assurances, but the point remains that under the European Communities Act we lost the power that was vested in the Government under Section 15 of the Iron and Steel Act 1967. That would have enabled me to give the assurance my hon. Friend wants, but I cannot now give it to him.
Lord Rooker: My Lords, Sir Michael Lyons, in his inquiry into local government, recommended that the Government should give local authorities the freedom to implement such incentives developed in close consultation with local residents. England's waste strategy is currently being reviewed. In this context, the Government are considering the full range of options that could encourage producers and...
Michael Howard: I shall give way in a moment —although perhaps I should sit down so that my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Sir R. Boyson) can give way to the hon. Gentleman. My right hon. Friend is effectively right in what he says. However, if the hon. Member for Copeland wishes to continue with his point, I shall give way.
Michael Meacher: ...expressed such concern in that speech about hardship caused by industrial action to the poor, the unemployed and the retired, why did the Government, only a month before, in a £2,000 million give-away Budget, give only £1 million to the poor while giving £300 million to the rich through cutting the tax on unearned income by almost half?
Bob Spink: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way to me again—it is extremely good of him. Will he consider a hypothetical situation? Father Michael is the parish priest of St. Mary the Virgin in my constituency. That church is celebrating its 1,100th anniversary. Were Father Michael to have an accident in the street outside his church and need to make use of the legal aid fund, would the...