Mr Robert Cooke: I do not want to keep the House long, but common justice demands that at least serious further consideration should be given to finding a way better to reward serious literary work. That is really what my hon. Friends are on about—better reward for really serious, long, arduous literary work. We would all agree that the Bill is not absolutely perfect in this respect. I hope that this...
Mr Robert Cooke: The House will be grateful for the Minister's undertaking. My hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr. St. John-Stevas) and myself take the view that this matter requires further consideration. One must have sanctions against those who might perpetrate a fraud against any piece of legislation, but compelling arguments have been deployed by a number of hon. Members on both sides of the...
Mr Robert Cooke: It is not only Opposition Members, but Government supporters, who have strong views about the Bill and who have indicated their intention of coming into the Chamber later this evening. I suggest that, on reflection, the Minister might think that it would have been better had he not made some of his recent comments. We all recognise that this is an important Bill, that a decision has been made...
Mr Robert Cooke: The hon. Lady has just said that an author must be alive to register. Most of us understand what that means, but she went on to say that the author must be alive to attempt to assign. She used a word between the words "to" and "assign" and I shall be grateful if she can clear up that matter.
Mr Robert Cooke: As the hon. Member has mentioned me, perhaps I might make a brief intervention. There may not be that much significance in the possibility of a change from 50 years to 20 years, arbitrarily chosen here to suit one hon. Member because the Government find it convenient, having an effect on copyright law. But it could conceivably do so. The Government, by accepting the hon. Member's amendment,...
Mr Robert Cooke: May I attempt to clear up any difference of opinion which there may be between myself and other hon. Members on the subject of the Government's proposal to reduce to 20 years the 50-year "after death" benefit which is in the Bill? We take the view that this move potentially takes away benefits which could accrue in life. An author with the prospect of leaving a widow an income of £12 a year...
Mr Robert Cooke: It is not three-quarters.
Mr Robert Cooke: rose—
Mr Robert Cooke: All I said from this Dispatch Box was that we would reserve our position in another place. That in no way suggests that the members of my party or any other party in another place would take any particular course of action. That is all I said. It is a harmless thing to say. Whilst I am on my feet, I must acknowledge the notable contribution of noble Lords in another place, notably the...
Mr Robert Cooke: Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It certainly was the position when the Patronage Secretary raised his ample presence to the Dispatch Box. We are glad to see the Minister back and we have no complaint. We are only sorry that we heard no speech from the Patronage Secretary.
Mr Robert Cooke: The judgment of Solomon on the disputed child resulted in the true parent being found, and the child was not torn in half. Whilst I am on my feet, perhaps I may make it absolutely clear that my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr. St. John-Stevas), a most distinguished Member, has had a lifelong interest in this matter. I would certainly assign to him the parentage of it.
Mr Robert Cooke: It is no secret that the vexatious subject of accommodation for Parliament has preoccupied the House since the last war. There have been constant Questions. The matter has erupted from time to time with debates in the House, the appointment of special committees and innumerable schemes. Our thoughts today are not directed purely for the convenience of the legislators. They are outnumbered...
Mr Robert Cooke: Possibly that, too. Newer Members had to kneel on the floor outside the Whips' Office to get at the lower row of cupboards. Some can still be seen to do so—though there may be some other reason why they are kneeling on the floor outside the Whips' Office. I do not have the benefit of advice on that matter from my right hon. Friend the Opposition Chief Whip. However, returning to the...
Mr Robert Cooke: Anything that is done on that site must be linked, as it can be, by modern means underground and by lifts at each end of an underground link, so that there is no real physical or psychological barrier between it and this Palace. If the accommodation over there is to succeed, we must avoid the feeling of such a barrier. There are a number of listed buildings on the site. The House can take...
Mr Robert Cooke: I do not like to destroy the unanimity which seems to have broken out all over the Chamber, but the last remark by the Lord President calls for a brief intervention. In the report, to which he is a signatory, it is made absolutely clear that an attack on the other end of the building would not solve our problems. To have hon. Members sitting at small tables in the Royal Gallery or the...
Mr Robert Cooke: Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I share the confusion suffered by other hon. Members. Is it not in order in this House to quote in full ministerial pronouncements made in the other House? If that ministerial pronouncement is inaccurate and another noble Lord corrects it, there may be some rule of order to allow us to take that into account.
Mr Robert Cooke: With his wide experience of the arts and his interesting period of office as Minister responsible for the arts, no doubt the hon. Gentleman will have thought deeply about these matters. Can he define "Scottish heritage"? Are the Duke of Sutherland's Titians, which are now on loan to a Scottish gallery, part of the Scottish heritage or the United Kingdom heritage? If they are forced on to...
Mr Robert Cooke: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that his Secretary of State for Education and Science said last year at the Royal Academy banquet that it was her estimate that there were £3,000 million-worth of works of art of national importance still in private hands in the United Kingdom? If they are to be dislodged by capital transfer tax—even the hon. Member must concede that the tax has had some effect...
Mr Robert Cooke: I do not want to interrupt the hon. Gentleman's train of thought, but perhaps he would like to have a rest at this moment. I have found what he has had to say quite fascinating. He has gone on at some length about this picture of Madame de Pompadour. Why was it that Scotland wanted this painting? Admittedly it belonged to the Earl of Rosebery—with strong Scottish connections—but as far as...
Mr Robert Cooke: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. This new clause has the support of hon. Members on both sides of the House. It provides for the income from a maintenance fund to be applied to the upkeep of gardens, arboreta and chattels associated with historic buildings. It will not of itself achieve anything at all, because it pre-supposes that an owner of a heritage property has set...
