House of Commons Hansard Debates for 11 May 1992

Prosecution Appeals

29. Mr. Brazier : To ask the Attorney-General what

representations have been made by the Crown prosecution service, to the Royal Commission on criminal justice, on prosecution appeals against perverse acquittals.

The Solicitor-General (Sir Derek Spencer) : The Crown prosecution service believes that genuinely perverse acquittals are rare. The full text of the service's evidence is in the Library.

Mr. Brazier : I put it to my hon. and learned Friend that no single factor is more inclined to persuade normally law-abiding citizens to take the law into their own hands than the acquittal of someone in suspicious circumstances. The lesson of not only the riots in California but a growing number of instances in this country, including some in my constituency, is that we ought to reconsider instituting a prosecution procedure for reopening cases in suspicious mistrials that result in acquittal.

The Solicitor-General : I am indebted to my hon. Friend for his submission to the Royal Commission on criminal justice. When it reports, no doubt it will make recommendations about that aspect that the House will want to consider.

Mr. Vaz : Does the Solicitor-General agree that one problem attaching to the Crown prosecution service in that regard is that it does not have enough staff? When will additional resources be allocated to the CPS, to enable it to undertake its work effectively?

The Solicitor-General : Those of us who have spent our lifetimes in the courts know full well that the service does a first-rate job.

Mr. Lawrence : I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend on his appointment. Does he agree that the jury system, with all its faults, is still the best yet devised for the protection of the liberties of the individual accused? Does he agree also that an opinion on the perversity of verdicts is normally that of the losing party and that any attempt to reverse a jury's acquittal decision would represent substantial interference in the principle of the jury system and be thoroughly unwise?

The Solicitor-General : Jury verdicts that individuals regard as oppressive are verdicts that other parties find entirely to their approval.

Sunday Trading

30. Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the enforcement of Sunday trading legislation ; and if he will make a statement on progress towards resolving issues in regard to the case before the European Court.

The Attorney-General : Two important questions are currently before the courts in relation to Sunday trading--first, the question relating to cross-undertakings in damages, on which the judgment of the House of Lords is expected shortly ; and, secondly, the issue as to the compatibility of the Shops Act 1950 and Community law, which is to be heard by the European Court of Justice on 2 June this year. Meanwhile, local authorities can still issue

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summonses or, indeed, seek injunctions, and I--like my predecessor--keep the question whether the public interest requires me to take action to enforce the law under review.

Mr. Owen Jones : In view of the Prime Minister's stated aim to make the laws on Sunday trading workable, will the Government now give due support to local authorities, such as mine in Cardiff, which are trying to enforce the law? It is not a simple matter of taking out an injunction, as the Attorney-General suggested. Will the Government consider the substance of the Bill relating to the issue that has been presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell), and also consider including it in their programme?

The Attorney-General : The hon. Gentleman will realise that the substantive law, and the reform of that law, are matters for my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary. It is nevertheless worth reminding the House and local authorities--in case they do not remember--that there is absolutely nothing to stop them from continuing to issue summonses when they think that the law is being broken. The cases to which I have referred will come before the courts comparatively soon ; once they have been decided, if the law is upheld, the summonses can be carried through to whatever result the court considers appropriate.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

Commonwealth of Independent States

34. Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next intends to meet representatives of the United Nations to discuss aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Mark Lennox-Boyd) : The next opportunity tdiscuss this issue in an international forum will be at the Lisbon conference on assistance to the former Soviet Union on 23 and 24 May. My right hon. and noble Friend Baroness Chalker will represent the United Kingdom.

Mr. Bennett : May I commiserate with the Minister, who has had to come to the House as a messenger? Can he tell us when we shall see a proper Minister for Overseas Development at the Dispatch Box? What conditions for the floating of the rouble will be suggested at the conference? We keep reading in the press that it is to be floated, yet no one seems to have explained specifically how that will be implemented so that there is no run on the rouble.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The hon. Gentleman need not express sympathy that is not wanted. There are ample precedents for senior Ministers to serve from the House of Lords. If the hon. Gentleman would like a reminder, let him consider the examples of Lords Longford, Shackleton, Caradon, Chalfont, Crowther Hunt, Goronwy-Roberts and Donaldson. It may be suggested that that was a long time ago ; that is because it is so many years since we had a Labour Government.

Let me deal with the hon. Gentleman's specific question. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer-- [Interruption.]

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Madam Speaker : Order. The House wants to hear the Minister's response to the question.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer took the lead on this issue in securing an early result and in gaining agreement to the principle of a stabilisation fund for the rouble. Macroeconomics are, of course, a matter to be take up by the appropriate international institution--in this case, the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Lester : Does my hon. Friend agree that our right hon. and noble Friend Baroness Chalker has served this country, and overseas development, very well indeed? We are very relieved that she is still able to carry out that function without being subjected to the pressures of this place : that can only benefit overseas development.

The major problem in the former Soviet Union is the question of the development of the private sector. We have been running a know-how fund for a considerable time now. How are we getting on with developing the private sector, particularly in the Russian economy?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I thank my hon. Friend for his question. As the Prime Minister said, the job of Minister for Overseas Development is a very important job that needs an experienced and first-rate Minister. The reappointment of my right hon. and noble Friend after the last election was welcomed by the aid community in the United Kingdom. As for my hon. Friend's specific point, there are already encouraging signs that private initiative in the Soviet Union is responding to new opportunities. Tens of thousands of new private farms and allotments have already emerged this year. It is vital that Russia should succeed in order that the republic as a whole succeeds.

Mr. Madden : Does the Minister understand that it is one thing to have the Minister for Overseas Development in the other place but that it is quite another for any reduction to be made in the time available for questions on overseas aid? The House will not tolerate that, bearing in mind the enormous problems that now confront our globe. If anything, we demand an increase in time so that questions on all these matters can be put in this House, where they properly belong.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Within a week of the Queen's Speech I am before this House to answer Overseas Development questions in the usual way. I cannot see any point in the hon. Gentleman's question.

Mr. Tredinnick : My hon. Friend will be aware that Bulgaria is adjacent to the Commonwealth of Independent States. Is he further aware that there is an outstanding invitation to the Foreign Secretary to visit that country? Will he convey--

Madam Speaker : Order. As this is a general question, the hon. Gentleman should restrict himself to general, not specific, questions.

Mr. Tredinnick : I understand that, Madam Speaker. Is my hon. Friend aware that the United Nations element has been nothing like as successful as our own know-how fund, with the creation of seven libraries in Bulgaria?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : As you pointed out, Madam Speaker, this question does not relate to specific countries. However, I can confirm that the how- fund has been an

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immense success and that this year it has channelled three times as much aid money to the countries for which it finds support as it did in 1990.

Mr. Bennett : On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker : Order. I take points of order later, as my predecessor did.

Mr. Bennett : With the greatest respect, Madam Speaker-- [Interruption.]

Madam Speaker : Order. I must hear the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Bennett : In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the answer, I beg to give notice that I shall seek to raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.

Madam Speaker : That was perfectly in order. If I am allowed to hear, we can make progress.

Mozambique

35. Dr. Howells : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funds and resources have been allocated to aid famine and drought relief in Mozambique.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : So far this year we have provided 15,000 tonnes of food aid for Mozambique and Mozambican refugees and a substantial part of the £5 million of additional food aid announced by my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development on 29 April will also go to Mozambique.

Dr. Howells : Three million people in Mozambique are exposed to famine because of this dreadful drought, and perhaps 7 million people in the countries that border Mozambique. The famine agencies say that they cannot get supplies through to rebel-held areas and that if there is not a ceasefire in this terrible civil war, millions of people will die. Does the Minister agree that we should have a direct answer from the Minister for Overseas Development and that if we do not have a direct answer from her soon, as opposed to messages from the other place, we shall have no confidence in what the Government are doing to relieve that famine?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I hope that from now on every Opposition question will not be about my right hon. and noble Friend's position in the other place, because there are serious aid matters to discuss. Mozambique is one of the countries worst affected by drought. We have been responsible for providing substantial aid to Mozambique--about £9 million worth of it as a result of the current emergency. My right hon. and noble Friend's participation in this important area of concern was shown last week in Brussels when she pushed hard for enhanced European Community provision for Mozambique, about which we expect an announcement shortly.

Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : What progress has been made in repairing the power lines to the major Kabora Bassa dam, which was destroyed by the rebels? If those power lines were repaired, Mozambique could export power to many of the southern African states, thus earning much revenue and helping it to build its own economy and those of other southern African states.

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Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I am afraid that I am unable to answer my hon. Friend's point. In addition to the emergency aid, the balance of payments aid the bilateral aid that we give each year, we are continuing our substantial capital aid programme and our substantial technical co-operation programme. I shall write to my hon. Friend about the detailed points that she made.

Mrs. Clwyd : Would the Minister care to tell us why the United Kingdom is apparently blocking an EC proposal that each EC country should substantially increase overseas aid to the target of 0.7 per cent. of the gross national product by the year 2000, or will he tell me that he cannot answer that question either and that he must ask his right hon. and noble Friend in another place? I hope that he will give a proper answer to that question.

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Madam Speaker : Order. I remind the hon. Lady that the question relates to Mozambique.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Mrs. Clwyd) owes my right hon. noble Friend and the House an apology. She should be ashamed of herself. She is entitled to feel strongly about aid issues, but she has clothed her feelings in personalised insults against my right hon. and noble Friend, and for that she has-- Mrs. Clwyd rose --

Madam Speaker : Order.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : --the disrespect of this side of the House.

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