§ 9. Mr. MacCormickasked the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions in the past year officials of the Scottish Office have attended to support the permanent United Kingdom representation in Brussels.
§ Mr. William RossOn 94 occasions in the year ended 31st May 1975.
§ Mr. MacCormickBearing in mind the Secretary of State's great courage in saying that he did not want us to join the Common Market, and bearing in mind that we have done so, does he agree that his job is to show the same guts and courage in making sure that Scotland has proper national representation within the institution of the Common Market rather than simply being passed off as similar to a region of Italy or a laude of Germany?
§ Mr. RossThe hon. Member has a very jaundiced idea of what really goes on in these matters. He should appreciate that we have been in the Common Market since 1973. The Scottish Office, with me as Secretary of State, has been participating fully in that work. There is nothing more important to the hon. Member, in relation to agriculture, than the hill lands, in respect of which a very good directive has been produced. A Scottish Office Minister led the team dealing with that. We are participating where we are needed and I can assure the hon. 1379 Member that Ministers will be there when they are required.
§ Mr. BuchanDoes my right hon. Friend accept that the work he did on behalf of those of us who were opposed to the Market was considerably greater than that done by the dishonest and ambivalent attitude maintained throughout the campaign by the SNP? It there not a case now, however, for ensuring the maximum possible Scottish representation at Brussels, not excluding the opening of an office there similar to the Bavarian Office which is established there. I cannot understand why the SNP should be so completely wrong on its history on this one. This has nothing to do with a separate and permanent representative on the Council of Ministers, which would be a backdoor form of separatism, but it is necessary to protect historic sections of the British people.
§ Mr. RossI got the impression that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister had said that the debate was over and that we should get down to maximising the benefits which exist for Scotland, which is what I want to do. If the point concerns representation on various kinds of committees, this has been happening quite apart from the actions of Government. For example, in the last few years the NFU has probably had more people in Brussels than it has in London. We have to examine our approaches to these things afresh and maximise the benefits for Scotland.
§ Mr. David SteelIf I may take up the point raised by the hon. Member for Renfrewshire, West (Mr. Buchan), why has the Scottish Office by now not set up its own liaison office in Brussels?