Mr Bowen Wells: Order. We cannot allow various sedentary interruptions and discussions for the simple reason that it prevents me from following the arguments.
Mr Bowen Wells: Order. I am being very generous in permitting what is becoming a Second Reading debate. However, I must ask the hon. Member for Vale of York to deal with the clause now, having made her clear and proper point about the police. We must return to the matter in hand, which is clause 26.
Mr Bowen Wells: I am sorry. I meant amendment No. 26.
Mr Bowen Wells: With this it will be convenient to take the following: amendment No. 27, in page 13, leave out lines 14 to 47 and insert— `(1) A constable or (as the case may be) an authorised person may at any reasonable time enter and inspect premises, provided that admission to the premises is reasonably required to ascertain whether the provisions of this Part are being complied with and, if...
Mr Bowen Wells: I must explain to the Committee why it is faced with yet a third Chairman for its third sitting. Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Sayeed have other matters to attend to outside the House today, so I shall be in the Chair today. I have read the report of the previous two sittings and I am conscious of the limited time in which to consider the Bill—some Opposition Members believe that it is too little...
Mr Bowen Wells: How exactly will the Secretary of State fulfil her promise to the traditional producers of sugar cane and sugar beet that they will not suffer as a result of this initiative? I agree with her that the world's poorest countries deserve the trade support that the European Community is proposing, but none the less there should not be a beggar thy neighbour policy that makes countries such as...
Mr Bowen Wells: I want to concentrate on the issue raised by the hon. Member for Reading, East (Jane Griffiths): the purchase and sale of houses. A little-noticed private Member's Bill—the 1999 Property Transactions Bill, an all-party measure opposed by the Government but supported by, among others, the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Jones) and the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours), who...
Mr Bowen Wells: I will in a moment. That means that both parties stand to lose if the contract is not fulfilled. If one party had to withdraw because of a death, or for any other reason, it would surely be sensible to wipe out the contract, and for one to pay the other's costs. That obvious method is used in other transactions in the commercial world. It seems fair and just to both sides. The Property...
Mr Bowen Wells: I promised to give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) and I will do so now.
Mr Bowen Wells: That is exactly what I want to achieve: I want to eliminate the daisy-chain process. Under my proposals to make the contract absolutely enforceable, except in unforeseen circumstances, the daisy chain would be eliminated. It does not exist in Massachusetts or anywhere else. It is only in this country that we have telescoping transactions, which are difficult to manage for the solicitors and...
Mr Bowen Wells: My hon. Friend mentioned the lender's survey. We now have three surveys, all of which have to be paid for, eventually, by the buyer. Is it not absurd to leave us in that position? Surely at least one of the surveys should be valid for both buyer and seller?
Mr Bowen Wells: No one would argue that preparing for the sale of a property in the way that the hon. Gentleman describes is not desirable, as it would speed up the sale and put the proposition on the table. However, it would be better to impose the normal procedures of this country, whereby an agreement to buy a property at a price is enforceable in law. Although it is necessary with property and, indeed,...
Mr Bowen Wells: I very much agree with the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr. Cohen) about the situation that is developing in Sierra Leone, where the British nation and the House seem to be getting themselves into a difficulty that it will be very hard to get out of. We seem again to be engaging in becoming a colonial power in Sierra Leone, without the authority of an international organisation such...
Mr Bowen Wells: Let us hear about Government proposals on special educational needs, not the Opposition's policies. This is the Queen's Speech debate.
Mr Bowen Wells: Talk about that, then.
Mr Bowen Wells: Burundi is one of the least developed countries and would benefit from the everything but arms initiative from European Commissioner Pascal Lamy. That is greatly to be welcomed. Is the right hon. Lady aware, however, that that initiative, which is to be decided as early as 5 December at the ministerial meeting in Brussels, would in fact result in impoverishing some African, Caribbean and...
Mr Bowen Wells: I beg to move amendment No. 51, in page 9, line 40, at end insert— '(3) Section 356 of that Act (Authority's powers to participate in proceedings: company voluntary arrangements) is amended as follows—(a) for subsection (1), there is substituted—(1) Where a voluntary arrangement has effect under Part I of the 1986 Act in respect of a company or insolvent partnership which is an...
Mr Bowen Wells: It is a pleasure to speak while you are in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have not congratulated you before on your appointment. I never expected to hear such a Conservative speech made by a Labour Member as that of the hon. Member for Liverpool, Garston (Maria Eagle). The hon. Lady is right to say that the report is an attempt to create a power structure within Parliament and to grab...
Mr Bowen Wells: There is no golden age within the memory of the House as currently constituted, but one, especially that after the English civil war and during the commonwealth led by Cromwell, is within the House's historical memory. Parliament had supremacy, but has consistently lost that over the years. Why has Parliament lost its supremacy? The reason is that the civil service does not want Parliament...
Mr Bowen Wells: I do not agree. I was in the House when the departmental Select Committees were introduced and the noble Lord St. John of Fawsley, who was then Leader of the House, occupying the position of the right hon. Lady, said that they would provide a satisfying career and an alternative career to a ministerial one. I see no inconsistency in that. After a Minister has left office, he is available to...
