§ 11 pm
§ Mr. John Home Robertson (East Lothian)I come to the House to present a petition signed by 879 people in the burgh of Musselburgh, the "honest toun", calling for the repeal of the poll tax legislation in Scotland. The House should be familiar with the case against this grossly unfair and inefficient tax, and I have no doubt that people in Scotland will treat the latest publicly funded propaganda exercise by Scotland's minority Tory Administration with the contempt that it deserves. I join more than 2,800 of my constituents who have so far signed petitions calling upon the House to repeal this dangerous legislation before any more harm is done.
Before I lodge the petition, I should like to raise a point of order with you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As I said, the Scottish Office is in the process of spending about £250,000 on distributing propaganda material supporting the poll tax legislation in Scotland, yet I have received a card from the Clerk of Public Petitions at the Journal Office saying that the Secretary of State for Scotland is refusing to respond to petitions lodged by my hon. Friends and myself against the poll tax legislation in Scotland. What can we do with a Department of State that refuses to respond to petitions lodged in the House? Is that not an abuse of the House and of the public petitions procedure?
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Paul Dean)The hon. Gentleman knows that the Chair has no responsibility for ministerial replies. However, I can call upon him to present his petition.
§ To lie upon the Table.