Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 21 October.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Will the right hon. Lady quote from that part of the United Kingdom regional development fund report which deals with the north-west and Greater Manchester as a whole, and which speaks of the terrifying prospect for the future for the unemployed and the imminent collapse of the infrastructure services in that area? Is that not a result of the Government's senseless and ruthless economic...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: First of all, may I place on record my gratitude to the Minister for responding so quickly to what is in essence an emergency debate. I apologise to the House on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley (Mr. Lewis), who is ill with influenza and unable to be here. I managed to bridge the gap and I shall speak on opencast mining and the 10-year draft plan of the National Coal Board for...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: I wish to present a petition which reads: To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The Humble Petition of Wigan borough council sheweth:That the Wigan Borough Council have examined the White Paper on "Buses" and the Transport BillThat they fear that, if implemented, the White Paper will mean:—(a) concessionary fares...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: The cardinal purpose of this debate is to obtain some positive answers from the Government, who so far have failed to answer clearly and definitively the questions raised by the Opposition. The Government's infamous industrial relations legislation left a bitter taste in the mouths of many of us. The Government have sought to impose on the British trade union movement, and now exclusively on...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: The yardstick is the same. We are told that there are uneconomic local government units. It must be more expensive to make a miner redundant than to invest properly in the coal industry. If the Government and the NCB failed to close the 20 pits, the cost to the NCB in subsidies would be £275 million per annum. If they are closed, the Government will lose a maximum of £480 million a year in...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 11 December.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Will the right hon. Lady reconsider her Government's mean and niggardly decision to cut old people's heating allowances for those on supplementary benefit by £1? Does she understand that this has caused considerable anxiety and concern in all parts of the House — a concern equal to that about student grants? Furthermore, will she resist any attempts by her Chancellor of the Exchequer to...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: How can the Minister justify the phoney and biased policy measures that he has announced today, which will result in cuts of £140 million over the next five years in the north-west region? Because of this Government's senseless economic policies, it is a region that has already lost 250,000 jobs since the Government came into power. Will he further confirm that the criteria mean that many...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: At one stage the Secretary of State declared that it was fairly obvious that the NUM and the Labour party's energy team never really understood the realities of the "Plan for Coal". First, let me declare my interest. I am a sponsored member of the NUM. I worked 30 years in the mining industry as an engineer. I was a consultant to the last president of the NUM, and I have been involved as a...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Sit down.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Give way.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Some people will not have a choice.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he is satisfied with the overall provision in schools for children with significant learning difficulties.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: Why does the right hon. Gentleman appear to be complacent and indifferent about this matter? Many of us are aware of and entirely dissatisfied with the distinct lack of commitment by most local authorities in dealing with the spirit and intentions of the Education Act 1981 in relation to disabled and handicapped children. Will the right hon. Gentleman exhort authorities to take further action...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: I congratulate the maiden speakers on having helped to relieve the pressure upon me, as a Whip, in trying to ensure some form of continuity in the debate. I am associated with my hon. Friends the Members for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron) and Barnsley, East (Mr. Patchett) through my mining background — I was a mining engineer — and my relationship with the National Union of Mineworkers. The...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: I accept that information with acclamation. I have been talking only about past performance. I am sure that the House welcomes Shell's initiative. Great Britain has not built large petrochemical factories and, as a result, it is now the biggest net importer of plastic products and feedstock for the petrochemical industry. We are paying for that in international currency, which we badly need....
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether further meetings such as that between the Minister of State and Mr. Farouk Qaddumi of the Palestine Liberation Organisation are planned.
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: In view of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's rejection of the Israeli-Lebanese agreement at a recent meeting, will the Foreign Secretary now acknowledge that the PLO has no intention, through negotiations, to recognise the state of Israel as such? Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the meeting was counter-productive? Furthermore, in view of the disposition of the PLO and its...
Mr Lawrence Cunliffe: asked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the numbers unemployed in the Leigh travel-to-work area in May 1979 and in April 1983.
