Mr Michael Trend: With regard to both pensions in general and stakeholder pensions in particular, the Minister's document, released yesterday, did not seem to say anything about the costs, which were supposed to be 1 per cent. In the light of that paper, and of other consideration that the Government are undertaking, can he tell us whether he still expects the costs to be that low, or whether they will be higher?
Mr Michael Trend: First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on securing the debate. It is clear, however, that the Liberal Democrat party has seen the bandwagon roll past it in the past few weeks and it is making a desperate scramble to board it. The campaign to scrap the compulsory purchase of annuities has been driven by the Conservatives, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for...
Mr Michael Trend: I do not need to remind the House that this is a Liberal Democrat debate. I notice that no Labour Member has spoken—let alone spoken with enthusiasm—in the Minister's welfare reform week, which is supposed to be so important but which is going like a damp squib. The Government should act without delay because, with every day that passes, large numbers of people who have worked hard all...
Mr Michael Trend: The House looks forward with varying levels of enthusiasm to these six-monthly debates on the European Union that take place before the two major summits in the year. After the forthcoming Cologne summit, which will mark the end of the German presidency, we shall welcome the Finnish Government to the presidency, even though they are said to be increasingly anxious about inheriting a somewhat...
Mr Michael Trend: Why is the disgraced Commissioner Edith Cresson still in post and drawing a salary?
Mr Michael Trend: Despite the rhetoric that the Minister employs and the good speech that she made at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the reality of what happened at Berlin simply does not stack up with what she is saying. Does she not understand that the European accession countries have realised that? Did she notice that the enlargement section of the 35-page document on the conclusions of the...
Mr Michael Trend: The Minister has outlined several qualifications from academic papers with which we are familiar. However, the essence of the question is a single soil sample that the Americans claim to have analysed, although some people have cast doubt on both the chemical analysis and the origin of the sample. The hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) asked whether the British Government were satisfied...
Mr Michael Trend: Rather than continuing the badinage, I shall repeat my important question. Are the British Government satisfied that the chemical analysis of the soil sample—the only bit of genuine evidence that justifies the bombing—adds up?
Mr Michael Trend: Four weeks ago, in the context of those talks, the Foreign Secretary gave the House an absolute assurance that the British rebate was non-negotiable. Good. Can he now give the House an absolute assurance that there will be no increase in Britain's contributions to the European Union, in either gross or net terms?
Mr Michael Trend: Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I was at the Committee to which my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen) referred. Indeed, I was sitting behind the Minister and able to observe over his shoulder that he had not only the questions, but the answers. I have served with great pleasure on the Select Committee and enjoyed the interchange between Members of Parliament and...
Mr Michael Trend: The Minister speaks of possible improvements. I listened with great respect to the hon. Member for Putney (Mr. Colman), who spoke well on behalf of his constituents. Governments have the power to inflict misery on or bring benefits to the people of this country, but this is not a simple numbers game, or a question of west London versus east Berkshire. Benefits might accrue from any change in...
Mr Michael Trend: Will the Foreign Secretary give the House an absolute assurance that the British rebate is non-negotiable?
Mr Michael Trend: Will the Minister consider it a success for the Government's ethical foreign policy if reports in this weekend's press prove to be accurate? I refer to the report that the Foreign Office assured the Chilean ambassador on Friday 16 October that nothing would happen to Senator Pinochet before 20 October, four days later. However, within 24 hours, Senator Pinochet had been arrested. The Minister...
Mr Michael Trend: The Foreign Secretary patronisingly urged us all to behave like adults. That was as uncalled for as it was discourteous. We have heard many excellent speeches this evening. My hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) has just made a brief but cogently argued point about the withholding tax, and the various speeches from hon. Members on both sides of the House have shown...
Mr Michael Trend: May I finish my fantasy? The hon. Member for Rotherham did his job very well. He read the headlines from the German newspapers—to, I suspect, a rather bemused audience—and seemed to suggest that the whole sorry business had been got up as a scare story by the British press. Various other Labour Members have suggested that. He seemed to say that they did these things better in Germany. He...
Mr Michael Trend: I have no reason to doubt the Minister, but I thought it curious that, a few hours before Prime Minister's questions, no Minister was available on the BBC lunchtime news on Radio 4. I may be wrong about those things. The hon. Member for Rotherham, in a spirited interview, suggested that they do these things better on the continent. The evidence of the past six months does not suggest that....
Mr Michael Trend: In the light of recent discussions on Kosovo, have the Government decided to send extra troops to Macedonia to join the NATO extraction force—troops, one supposes, which may be called on to operate in Kosovo? There was a report to that effect in yesterday's edition of The Daily Telegraph, and one on the BBC today, although I understand that no announcement has been made. Surely in this...
Mr Michael Trend: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on securing this important debate. In his excellent speech, he combined passion with clarity, which is a rare combination on such occasions. Cyprus is a subject of deep concern to all parties in the House. It is an island with which the United Kingdom has had a long, historic association and a deep and continuing...
Mr Michael Trend: Is the Foreign Secretary aware, that over the weekend, Alastair Campbell briefed the press in Austria? I have a transcript of that briefing, which said that the Prime Minister would tell the informal summit that Kosovo showed us far too often to be dithering and disunited". To ensure that the Government can no longer be accused of prolonging that dithering, will the Foreign Secretary inform...
Mr Michael Trend: The Minister referred to trials in which planes are brought in at night from the west, of which I was aware. I have spoken about the need for a balance, and about hon. Members receiving no thanks for improving the balance but receiving considerable odium if it gets worse. If the airport went to an easterly preference, even with alternation allowing both runways to land planes from the west...
