Mr John Biggs-Davison: In the absence of withdrawal or revision of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, how does my right hon. Friend propose to end the deadlock in cooperation and communication with the political leaders of the overwhelming majority of the population of Northern Ireland?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Before my right hon. Friend leaves the subject of the Ulster Defence Regiment, I should like to ask him whether it might be possible for some of those politicians—perhaps also those south of the border who are ill-disposed towards the UDR, in spite of all that it does at great cost for the defence of the people—to be persuaded to pay a visit to the UDR to meet some of the battalions, to...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: asked the Secretary of State for Transport if, when he next meets the chairman of London Regional Transport, he will raise with him the improvement of bus and Underground services.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Apart from the threatened strike, which we hope will be averted, will my hon. Friend ask the chairman to take my constituents into his confidence and give them some hope that there will be an end to difficulties on the Central line arising from timetabling, the failure of equipment and work on the track?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Will my hon. Friend confirm that no service area is to be placed in Loughton or elsewhere in the Epping Forest constituency?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Will my right hon. Friend consider with the Commissioner the policing of Waltham Abbey, where regular fights between youthful gangs now aflict that formerly peaceful town? Is it not the case that there are no more police on the streets now than there were in the 1920s? Is my right hon. Friend satisfied with the strength and the establishment of the Metropolitan police?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I echo what my right hon. Friend said about the judiciary. Is he aware that some of us believe that the McGuires and Guiseppe Conlan may have been wrongly convicted by an English jury and could possibly not have been so convicted by a Diplock court with its superior knowledge of explosives matters?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Whether or not it is getting near Christmas, the House of Commons likes to forget about Ulster, to which our country owes its survival. For one thing, the obsession with devolved government drives a wedge of difference between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and cuts the Province adrift, as it were, from our party politics, especially because the historic Tory-Ulster Unionist alliance has...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: But it is noteworthy that, when Mr. Haughey was Taoiseach, the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council—not to be confused with the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference—was instituted. That institution, the secretariat that accompanied it and even the idea of a parliamentary tier were acceptable. They were on the right lines. But the intergovernmental conference is not. Ulster is not...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does my right hon. Friend's reply not show that there will be a rapid, progressive and gratifying fall in costs, and does the Ministry of Defence know of any better all-services training area than the Falkland Islands?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: When the Prime Minister talked to Dr. Garrett FitzGerald during the conference, did they discuss ways of reducing or removing the destabilising and adverse economic effects of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Was it not the case for immunities for those serving on the fund that was brought before the House?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: rose—
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Does the hon. Gentleman dissent from the views expressed by the chairman of the Northern Ireland Economic Council on this matter?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I appeared before the New Ireland Forum on the same day as Sir Charles Carter. He lent no comfort to any such idea. I refer the hon, Gentleman to his article in The Times.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I make the emollient observation that the hon. Gentleman has played a part in that sphere in Derry.
Mr John Biggs-Davison: I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to the Minister of State and to the House for having arrived a few moments late for this debate. I was at a meeting with the chairman of the Northern Ireland tourist board. He told me that his industry, among others, has not done so well during the last year. But I must not speak about tourism. I am mindful of the admonition that you gave the House and that...
Mr John Biggs-Davison: Is it not the case that the old penalty of transportation to Australia has been revived in the case of Sir Robert Armstrong?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: As a year has elapsed since the conclusion of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, should the House not have an opportunity to debate the dangerous and disquieting developments that have taken place since it was signed?
Mr John Biggs-Davison: As the Kwazulu-Natal plan would have brought about universal franchise and a non-racial Executive for an important province of South Africa, is not the present rejection of that plan deeply disappointing? Does my right hon. and learned Friend think that this is because of electoral considerations and a reaction to the anti-apartheid movement and some of its extreme manifestations, and will...