Mr Alastair Harrison: Will my right hon. Friend explain how this can be done without nominee holdings being completely open?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this matter, which is of vital importance to some of my constituents and of wider importance nationally. I refer to the damage caused to commercial tomato crops by the pollution of the public water supply. Not only has it caused a number of my constituents and prospective constituents to face possible ruin—and this is no exaggeration, as I shall...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Did the Minister make any reference to the number of houses which will be demolished to build the corridor and so on?
Mr Alastair Harrison: Can my hon. Friend say, then, what is the point of the Bill?
Mr Alastair Harrison: It would be churlish if one did not welcome any concessions from a Government who have taken back some orders which the House has rejected. I must welcome the concessions that have been made, particularly the apparent increase in flexibility in the application of some of the regulations to Commonwealth people. I think we would be very foolish if we did not realise how much damage has been...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I hope that my right hon. Friend will not pay any attention to the suggestion that he should withdraw this order. I have had the strongest representations from the clerk of the council of Witham and from the two Maldon councils that the order should be accepted as it is printed. There have been strenuous negotiations and discussions with the Ministry, and I hope that my right hon. Friend will...
Mr Alastair Harrison: This morning The Times got the point of this debate in persective when, in its leading article, it said that this was The price we pay for hypocrisy and referred to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act. 1962, which is the beginning of all the trouble which we have been debating. In that Act no differentiation was made between the old and the new Commonwealth, despite many representations which...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am most grateful for that intervention, but I hope that the period for which these people will be allowed to stay will be on the two- or three-year basis of about 18 months ago, and that they will not have their passports endorsed for a six-months' stay as they are at present.
Mr Alastair Harrison: The important thing in relation to the old Commonwealth countries is our reciprocity over migration. Those older countries take emigrants from Britain, and we should be prepared to take short-term or reasonable-term immigrants from them. These rules put us in a most ridiculously anomalous position with regard to some of our colonial territories. For instance, a number of French territories...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I hope that the Minister who is to reply on behalf of the Government will take the opportunity of explaining the rules and will say how the Home Office will publicise what it intends to do about altering the Regulations from time to time. Anybody with connections in the Commonwealth will share with me the utter distaste for this Bill and the restrictions which these provisions and Regulations...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Then may I appeal to my right hon. Friend to give us some indication of how we shall be able to safeguard the position when it comes to a proposal to alter any of these Regulations? I hope that he will assure us that we shall not just have, as we have seen recently when there has been a variation, some form of statement in the Press instead of a proposal being put before this House. The...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Last week The Times published an article which began: What is it that sold for £3 in 1967, sells for 3p today and caused Sir Arnold Weinstock to decide to close down two factories earlier this month? Answer: a microcircuit. I wish to draw the attention of the House to the problem that is facing this industry and to persuade the Government to act to ensure that the factories and the expertise...
Mr Alastair Harrison: First I declare my interest. I have agricultural interests in Australia as well as in the United Kingdom, fortunately not interests that are directly concerned with our entry into the Common Market, because I produce neither sugar nor dairy products. We have heard from the right hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Peart) and others what happened to our relations with Australia during the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Is not it part of the rôle of an adviser to criticise?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am the third ex-chairman of a regional sports council who has spoken in the debate. I wish to add to the tribute paid by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Small Health (Mr. Denis Howell), who started the Sports Council. Although I did not agree with some of its methods, it was a beginning of which the hon. Gentleman has the right to be proud....
Mr Alastair Harrison: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Alastair Harrison: What the hon. Gentleman has said is just not true. More people will be disturbed.
Mr Alastair Harrison: No, it does not say that. The hon. Gentleman himself has not read it.
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am grateful for the opportunity of intervening in this debate. While my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, East (Sir S. McAdden) may have had Foulness in his constituency and my hon. Friend the Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine) has it in his constituency, at the next General Election it will be in the Maldon constituency which I have the honour to represent. I am appalled at the...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I hope that the Hon. Member for Stockton-on-Tees (Mr. William Rodgers) will forgive me if I do not follow him into the romanticisms of Sir Arthur Grimble, except to mention that having spent some time exploring the islands to see if what Sir Arthur has described in fact exists, I have reached the conclusion that he was a charming man and a very good journalist. Few hon. Members would have...
