Mr James Lamond: If the Minister is so keen on inward investment, why does he not give a little more encouragement to initiatives such as that taken by Oldham metropolitan borough council, which is organising a trade mission to China, but which has received little support from the Government despite the desperate need to bring investment and jobs to the area?
Mr James Lamond: It is tempting, in one of the rare opportunities that we have to speak in foreign affairs debates, to mention all the countries and issues in which we are interested, but that is not possible especially if we are to comply with Mr. Speaker's kind request that we confine ourselves to 10 or 15 minutes. I should have liked to say something about Cyprus, which is gradually receding into the...
Mr James Lamond: I accept the hon. Gentleman's point. I hope that I was not implying that the blame lay entirely on the shoulders of this country and the Foreign Secretary. However, we could have played a more practical part in resolving some of the difficulties. All that I am saying is that I do not think that we were as positive as the Foreign Secretary would have us believe from his remarks. Halfway...
Mr James Lamond: To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 June.
Mr James Lamond: Five years ago the Prime Minister was boasting with pleasure and pride about the balance of payments surplus and warning us against the extreme damage that high interest rates could do to our industrial production. Now that we are running the highest balance of payments deficit in the history of the country and interest rates are being increased every week, can she tell us whether she looks...
Mr James Lamond: When the Prime Minister"s speech writers were preparing her for the meeting, did they remind her of her remarks at Question Time on 8 December 1983 when she was rather angry with the United States because it was running what she described as a fantastic balance of trade deficit"—[Official Report, 8 December 1983; Vol. 50, c. 462.] which caused high interest rates, which were extremely...
Mr James Lamond: Does the Minister agree that when a visitor"s visa has been refused and an appeal has been lodged, the applicant is frequently told that inquiries must be made, presumably by the Home Office? Lengthy delays occur, sometimes of more than a year. Indeed, did not the ombudsman point that out to the Minister following a case that I had referred to him and which he upheld? Will the Minister ensure...
Mr James Lamond: Has the Minister considered the American experience of student loans? Is he aware that defaults on loans are running high—at least 20 per cent. or, perhaps, higher? The American Education Secretary, William J. Bennett, said that the defaults are now out of control. Despite trying a number of methods to recover the loans, the Americans are now talking about withholding student loan grants...
Mr James Lamond: Why does the Minister not try to help resolve the dreadful balance of payments problem and save his own job at the same time by clamping down much more firmly on the unfair competition from Turkish yarn and textiles, which is beginning to threaten the fragile recovery of our textile industry and is already causing redundancies in textile firms in the north-west of England?
Mr James Lamond: Is it not a fact, however, that the Soviet Union has done its very best to make progress on humanitarian affairs by suggesting that the Soviets themselves host a special international conference on the matter? Has not the West dragged its feet and answered that request by suggesting that every non-governmental organisation that wishes to go along should have the right to go to such a...
Mr James Lamond: I have just heard one of the most remarkable speeches in my 18 years in this House. It is rather sad to see a Secretary of State signing his own death warrant. I do not think that he can last very much longer, even after the concessions which have been wrung from him and the Cabinet in the past few days. It surprised me to hear the Secretary of State set the new capital limit at £8,000...
Mr James Lamond: Yes, I understand why conversations are going on: I am sure that Conservative Members are trying to work out the statement, as we are. It is rather unfortunate—this is a criticism that we can make of the procedures of the House—that the last people to receive any information about such a statement are those who are expected to debate it. Early in the Secretary of State's speech I observed...
Mr James Lamond: How many United States civilian personnel are attached to support services to the 66 bases?
Mr James Lamond: Did the Minister discuss the GDR's proposal, which arises out of an initiative made by the late Olaf Palmé, for a nuclear weapons-free corridor in Europe, including the whole of the GDR, part of the Federal Republic and designed eventually to link up with the Scandinavian nuclear-free area and the Balkan nuclear-free area, which, sadly has been closed, leading eventually to a nuclear...
Mr James Lamond: What is so special about British Aerospace, which is declaring redundancies in my constituency, that it has managed to get the Government to suspend their normal policy of allowing free play of the market in competition and getting a splendid bargain because it happens to be the first in the queue to ask for it? Bearing in mind that it took a long time for the Government to decide to give...
Mr James Lamond: Looking back at the hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs that the Government have destroyed up and down the country, including in Dundee, it ill becomes them to criticise the trade union movement for refusing to accept the Government's suggestion that it should go on bended knee to the United States, like a Third world country, asking the Americans to come here to pay slave labour...
Mr James Lamond: Is the Minister interested in efficiency a bit nearer home? Did he notice that earlier this Question Time a messenger arrived, bewigged from the Lords, and handed a bundle of documents done up in red tape to the Serjeant at Arms, who handed the bundle to the Attendant who normally marks up the times of debates, who handed it to the Doorkeeper, who brought it round via the No Lobby to behind...
Mr James Lamond: Has the Minister noticed the statement that was issued yesterday by the Society of British Aerospace Companies Ltd. It challenges the Government's assertion that 2·3 per cent. of gross domestic product is spent on research and development. Its calculations show that only 1·9 per cent. is spent, which is considerably below the amount spent by our nearest competitors. Is not that failure to...
Mr James Lamond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will announce his decision on the request by Salema Begum, daughter of Mr. Gura Miah, to remain with her parents in the United Kingdom.
Mr James Lamond: I thank the Minister for that answer. Although the case was lengthy—I think necessarily so—and the girl concerned and her family were put under considerable strain, I should, nevertheless, like to give my personal thanks to the Minister for exercising his discretion in that way and also put on record the thanks of the family.
