Edward Leigh: My hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Sir David Amess) and I have served together in the House for nearly 38 years. As well as being one of my oldest friends, he is a first-rate constituency MP and he speaks very well for all his constituents in his largely urban seat. In all fairness, however, I think that the voice of farmers should also be heard. I represent the constituency of...
Edward Leigh: I am grateful to all who have taken part in this debate, particularly my hon. Friends the Members for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), for Redcar (Ian Swales) and for Southend West (Sir David Amess), the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) and my right hon. Friend the Minister. In a few moments we are going to pass the motion “That this House believes that Ofsted should respect the...
Edward Leigh: ...real issue that concerns people, there have been 1.1 million immigrants from eastern Europe since 2004, so I repeat the question very courteously put by my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge). The right hon. Gentleman talks about leadership, so will he show some and tell us whether the Labour party would grant the British people a referendum on Europe?...
Edward Leigh: The differentiation between excise and VAT duties is very interesting. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East (Sir T. Taylor) also referred to it. I hope that the Paymaster General will be able to enlighten us. I have certainly received no enlightenment so far.
Edward Leigh: It is a great pleasure to follow such veterans of these debates as my hon. Friends the Members for Rochford and Southend, East (Sir T. Taylor) and for Stone (Mr. Cash), and particularly my Lincolnshire neighbour the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell), who made a number of interesting points, all of which I agreed with. A feature of the debate has been that every speaker has...
Edward Leigh: I am grateful to all the hon. Members who have taken part in the debate, including the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) and my hon. Friends the Members for Southend, East (Sir T. Taylor), for Cannock and Burntwood (Mr. Howarth) and for Stafford (M r. Cash). They have all debated the RECHAR money. I explained my position clearly and fairly. The Government believe that these...
Edward Leigh: ...there is negotiation and consultation with member states. That is not so under the ECSC treaty, which confers wide rule-making and executive powers on the Commission. My hon. Friend the Member for Southend, East (Sir T. Taylor), who is an expert in these matters, will know that under the treaty the Commission is known as the high authority. The Commission may seek to retain those powers....
Edward Leigh: Perhaps it was because the hon. Gentleman was no longer opposed by my skilful hon. Friend the Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor). I can speak only for the area that I represent. I think that it is strange that the hon. Member for Great Grimsby's majority should fall so dramatically between 1979 and 1983. His majority fell to the level at which it stood when he won a by-election when the...