Mr John Biggs-Davison: I supported the application for this debate because the House should deliberate on these matters. Obviously, the right hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Dr. Owen) should be able to criticise the police or anybody else. It is difficult to find the right balance between freedom of information and the needs of secrecy. Secrecy should not be misused or overdone. As a lieutenant of marines...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: s asked the Attorney- General what views he has exchanged with the Attorney- General of the Republic of Ireland, within the framework of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, and also elsewhere, on the constitution and working of the Diplock courts.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: In the interests of Anglo-Irish relations, can my right hon. and learned Friend deny that Irish politicians, whom I should not name because of the general election in the Republic, wanted to make the ratification and implementation of the European convention on the suppression of terrorism conditional upon changes in the Diplock courts, which is a matter only for the United Kingdom?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: My hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Bruinvels) is a fortunate hon. Member. He is fortunate in drawing lucky in the ballot, and fortunate for being parliamentary representative for Leicester, but Leicester is fortunate to have my hon. Friend as its Member of Parliament. In the time that he has been in the House my hon. Friend has shown himself to be a diligent and humane Member....
Mr John Biggs-Davison: If some young person under the age of 17 were to make a crossbow, and if he had it in his possession, he would commit an offence.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Has my right hon. Friend studied the early-day motion on the subject of identity cards for all the population? [That this House notes the use of identity cards in various Commonwealth, European and other countries, and the requirement in Northern Ireland that driving licences shall carry the driver's photograph,. believes that the universal issue of identity cards in the United Kingdom would...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 29 January.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: As the First Lord of the Treasury was not on the Treasury Bench when this was raised in Treasury Question Time, may I ask my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister whether she has studied the Official Report of yesterday's debate on the City? If so, is she surprised that in the very week of the umpteenth relaunch of the alliance the SDP leader and the Liberal leader voted against each other?...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: And others.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Would the hon. Gentleman care to add to what he has been saying about one-person operation and the changes in the buses in London, and mention the dislike of many of us passengers of the inflexible, unfriendly one-person-operated bus'?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Since this is not the first time—as my right hon. Friend has said—that violent and brutish outside elements have exploited the troubles at Wapping, will my right hon. Friend tell the House whether the organisers of the march consulted the Commissioner about the routing or the wisdom of the march? In the light of what has happened, will consideration be given to the use of the Public Order...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Is my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary aware that some of us will find his full confidence in the TLC test in the Guildford case rather surprising? Is my right hon. Friend aware also that I first raised in the House the case of the late Giuseppe Conlon and, therefore, the Maguires in 1980? The efforts that are being made by many hon. Members, and indeed by other people of different...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: asked the Lord Privy Seal if he has any proposals to reform the conduct of Northern Ireland business; and if he will make a statement.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: While the Northern Ireland Office is addicted to the separate statute book, does my right hon. Friend think that it is in keeping with our system of parliamentary government that Northern Ireland legislation should be done, and should have been done for so many years, in the form of unamendable Orders in Council, only briefly debated?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Presumably, if the city corporation was deprived of the management of Epping forest it might be that the ratepayers of Epping Forest would be asked to contribute. They certainly would not wish to do so.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: And the 17th century——
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Hear, hear.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I always enjoy listening to my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Sir G. Finsberg), and it is a pleasure to support the Bill's Third Reading which he so agreeably moved. If the Labour party has its way, there will not he many more such private Bills. The hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks), for example, is eager to destroy the ancient traditions and institutions of...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: If there is this improvement—and any improvement in security co-operation is welcome—why is it that even the smallest infringement of the border by our forces in pursuit of those whom the Taoiseach has called the common enemy is built up into an international incident in Dublin?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings he has had since Christmas with Northern Ireland political leaders.