Ted Brocklebank: ...White, under the leadership of Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson. I cannot commend too highly the official report of the visit, which is due for publication tomorrow. Those who are occasionally lucky enough to go on such visits do so in the realisation that they will be accused of junketing at public expense. However, the most peremptory study of the report would suggest that covering a...
Margaret Smith: I will give Murdo Fraser a statistic. When the charges that the Conservatives want to introduce in Scotland were introduced in Australia, participation in higher education by males from the poorest backgrounds decreased by 38 per cent. We already have a lack of equality in educational choice in Scotland. Reintroducing fees, whether up-front, top-up, deferred or whatever, would serve only to...
Mr John Fraser: .... His real complaint is that he was disowned by his party. That is a matter between him, his party and his constituency; it is not a matter for rehearsal in the House today. The hon. Gentleman was lucky in the ballot, and he has chosen a matter of personal interest rather than a subject of interest to his constituents. We have one very clear and one slightly vague obligation in relation...
Murdo Fraser: ..., so drawn was she by the promises made by the previous Administration on the attractions of a career in teaching. My wife does not regret that decision for one moment, and indeed she is one of the lucky ones because she has already been offered employment for the coming year. Sadly, far too many of my wife's peer group face unemployment or, at best, an uncertain future. I understand that,...
Mr Neville Trotter: ...type that I have described. I comment on the need for consultation. The Consumer Safety Act, which I steered through the House in 1978, was an eye-opener to me. The hon. Member for Norwood (Mr. Fraser) was the Minister responsible at the time, and his Department was good enough to circulate 300 bodies that could be interested in consumer safety. I remember the wise gentleman in the...
Stewart Stevenson: ...consider energy regulation. I will continue to work to allow her that opportunity. Energy efficiency is really a rather simple measure. A number of members referred to home insulation. We have been lucky enough to get our loft insulation from 200mm up to 600mm. We are just going into the first winter in which we will get the full benefit, but it has already been so effective that my wife...
Eilidh Whiteford: ...today can bring ratification significantly closer. I want to acknowledge a number of women on whose expertise on the Istanbul convention I have relied in bringing forward this Bill. I have been lucky to have a formidably erudite team of advisers from all parts of the UK, and in no particular order I would like to thank Lisa Gormley, Marsha Scott, Hillary Fisher, Gemma Lindfield, Cris...
Mr John Patten: ...on this matter. We have had many consultations and have reached exactly the same conclusions at different times. I listened with great care to the brief speech of the hon. Member for Norwood (Mr. Fraser) in which he restated well-known Labour party policy on the right to buy. There are considerable differences between us and I shall not attempt to elaborate on them. There was nothing new...
Tommy Graham: ...Prime Minister is as happy as Larry because she has only the poll tax to worry about. It would be laughable were it not for the millions who are unemployed. Tonight we have heard about some of the lucky people who have jobs, but in my constituency highly skilled and highly trained individuals in many disciplines such as engineering and teaching cannot find a job. Nor can they afford...
Jeremy Corbyn: I fully endorse the remarks of my hon. Friends the Members for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), for Glasgow, Central (Mr. Watson) and for Norwood (Mr. Fraser). Having sat through much discussion of the matter in Committee, I think that this is a shabby and nasty clause. If the homeless persons legislation can be altered in this underhand manner, what will happen next? If the Bill goes through in...
Mr John Fraser: ...unemployment is 32 per cent. The formulae fail to take into account the social strains that result from that degree of deprivation. My hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall (Mr. Holland) and I are lucky enough to be so close to our constituencies that we can visit them during the course of debates. I was able to attend the opening of a social centre by Lord Scarman. That centre was opened...
Mr Calum MacDonald: ..., daycare clubs and voluntary organisations; centres for the physically and mentally handicapped will also be hit. Innocent people will be caught up in an international banking scandal and crisis. Lucky people will suffer too: people, that is, who are lucky in comparison with those who lack work and incomes. An estimated 300 job losses will result from the cuts in one of the three...
Kenneth Macintosh: ...is being deliberately ignored. I believe that most of us were genuinely shocked in March when the teacher census was published. The surprise was not that the number of posts was down—as Murdo Fraser and many other members have highlighted, we all received e-mails and approaches from constituents who let us know that trouble was afoot. The surprise was the scale of the job...
Chic Brodie: I support the motion, of course. I do so because I am passionate about my nation and about its performance. I have been somewhat lucky in my past to have run international businesses, to have helped small companies to start up and to have turned round companies that have been in trouble. I have never been disappointed, in the challenge that they have faced, by those with whom I have been...
Mr Hugh Fraser: ...them more than I do, but in church we want to be sure that we can do something we know about and that we know the form and set of the procedure. I must say to my Church of England colleagues how lucky they are to have the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and what a great misfortune it would be for this country if that were to disappear. So there is the problem which has been a problem for...
Richard Lochhead: ...wildlife park at Kincraig, but I know where he was coming from. Out of self-interest, I will refer to upper Speyside. Residents of that area, which is in my constituency of Moray, might not feel lucky this week, after the United Kingdom Government's smash and grab on the local whisky sector, but my constituents there feel lucky to live in the midst of the spectacular landscape of...
Margaret Ewing: ...when the bottle isappeared at one stage and was never recovered. Bodyguards now guard the raffle stall whenever the games are held. I bought a raffle ticket, but so far I do not seem to have been lucky because I have had no information about it. On a more serious note, we should consider the employment aspects of the industry. Some 71,300 people in the United Kingdom depend on the Scotch...
Mr John Fraser: ...a completely independent and rapid investigation. That is the most recent case that has come to my attention and it led to a huge rumpus in the local consultative police group, which I have been lucky enough to go to see since the beginning of the debate. It also supports the idea of a completely independent investigation. I do not wish to detain the House for long, but merely to speak...
Murdo Fraser: ...in Aberdeen whose son displays some prowess at the piano. He goes to piano lessons provided by the local school for half an hour a week. He shares that lesson with six other children and, if he is lucky, he gets two minutes on the piano. That is the standard of current provision. When I examine the glossy strategy document and those that proceeded it, I wonder how much it cost to produce....
Mary Scanlon: ...1,200 wells over the next 10 years, and given the decommissioning budget of £47 billion up to 2050, decommissioning should be regarded as an opportunity to develop skills and jobs. As Murdo Fraser said, we very much welcome the energy jobs task force, which was announced a year ago and which we hope will address skills shortages elsewhere in our workforce. However, we should be aware of...
