Mr Hector Hughes: asked the Attorney-General what plans he has to amend and improve the Limitation Act, 1963.
Mr Hector Hughes: Having regard to the considerable differences between English and Scottish law, may I ask the Attorney-General to set up an inquiry consisting entirely of Scottish lawyers to consider the application and working of the Limitation Act in Scotland?
Mr Hector Hughes: Will my right hon. Friend rearrange the business for next week so as to find time for a matter of urgent importance to the North-East of Scotland—namely, the improvement of Aberdeen harbour and the consequential communications between the North-East of Scotland and the Continent of Europe?
Mr Hector Hughes: Will my right hon. Friend reconsider the answer he gave my right hon. Friend the Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) about the Merchant Shipping Bill, which is very important? The seamen want it, their union wants it, and it is very urgent that it should be considered by the House when it comes from the other place.
Mr Hector Hughes: asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the visit of the Joint Parliamentary Secretary to Iceland from 8th to 13th April in connection with the European Free Trade Fisheries Group, indicating the subjects discussed and decisions made, relating to fishing trade relations, with Iceland and the benefits which will result to Aberdeen fisheries from...
Mr Hector Hughes: When visiting that great fishing nation, did the Minister take advantage of the occasion to enlist its aid in stopping poaching in North Sea fishing grounds, which is a real menace to the Aberdeen fishing industry?
Mr Hector Hughes: Does my hon. Friend realise that this expense should not be undertaken, because the Palace of Westminster is much more picturesque with its present antique appearance than it would be if it were whitewashed?
Mr Hector Hughes: On a much more serious point of order. Is it not clear that the interchanges between the Front Benches deprive Question Time to the Prime Minister of its usefulness by blotting out a number of Questions which might have been asked?
Mr Hector Hughes: Does my right hon. Friend realise that all the time spent in prison by people represents a great loss in terms of national productivity? [Laughter.] It is all very well for hon. Gentlemen opposite to laugh at this, but what I say is so. Cannot he devise a way of using the efforts of those who are in prison to increase national productivity?
Mr Hector Hughes: A point of order. May I say, with reference to Lady Crawford, that it was not Lady Crawford who wanted medical treatment. It was her daughter. So the Minister is perfectly right.
Mr Hector Hughes: My first task is to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemp-town (Mr. Hobden) not only on his speech tonight but on his assiduous attention to the interests of his constituents, of whom I have the honour to be one. I say with regret that I think that my hon. Friend is wrong on this occasion, though that will not deter me from voting for him when the occasion comes. I agree...
Mr Hector Hughes: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I merely mentioned the fire brigade in passing because it will be handicapped by this scheme if it is built, for it would involve the fire brigade going through underground alleys and tunnels and thus being delayed in reaching the scene of a conflagration. The plan is a bad plan, and I hope that the House will reject it for a variety of reasons, which I shall put...
Mr Hector Hughes: I will do my best, Mr. Speaker, to obey your diktat, as I always do, for I have the greatest respect for your Rulings. I oppose the Bill for reasons which I shall state categorically and briefly. It is an eccentric Bill and a devious Bill with an eccentric history. Secondly, it is the same Bill in all material respects as that which was presented to the House only 11 months ago and rejected....
Mr Hector Hughes: I am merely stating the facts and history, which are on record. That Bill was, as this Bill is, a breach of statute law, and I shall quote the statute, which is detailed, clear and precise and concerning which no mistakes could be made. In these circumstances it is not surprising, indeed it is to be expected, that those who voted against that breach of statute law included Her Majesty's...
Mr Hector Hughes: On a point of order. The speech to which we are listening, Mr. Speaker, seems to be a mass of ex-relatione conversations. Is that in order. What evidence has the right hon. Gentleman to offer that those conversations are being accurately reported by him?
Mr Hector Hughes: North.
Mr Hector Hughes: Yes.
Mr Hector Hughes: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Hector Hughes: The right hon. Gentleman is making fun about my constituency. May I venture to point out that when he described himself as the Member of Parliament for Brighton, he was wrong. He is the Member for the Pavilion Division of Brighton.
Mr Hector Hughes: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his plans for achieving conformity and even-handed justice in magistrates courts, in view of recent cases of disparity in sentences.
