§ Mr. Robert Maclennan (Caithness and Sutherland)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Has the Home Secretary given notice of an intention to make a statement about the ruling of Mr. Justice Popplewell this morning in a case that is germane to the matter under discussion on which he has just made a statement? In the High Court, Mr. Justice Popplewell has asked the Home Secretary to reconsider his decision to deport to India a leading Sikh independence campaigner, Mr. Karamjit Singh Chahal. If there has been no such request from the Home Secretary, the right hon. Gentleman is present and may feel it appropriate to make a statement on whether he intends to observe the advice of Mr. Justice Popplewell.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Kenneth Baker)It might assist the hon. Gentleman if I say something on that case. The decision to deport Mr. Chahal for national security reasons and other reasons of a political nature, including the international fight against terrorism, was taken by my predecessor—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
§ Mr. BakerIf the House will be patient, it will hear the facts.
Since then, an application for asylum was refused by me. This was challenged by judicial review and the judgment given in the High Court today. The judge asked me to reconsider Mr. Chahal's status as a refugee, and I shall most certainly do so. I give the House an undertaking that if, after consideration, I come to the conclusion that Mr. Chahal should be deported, that will not occur until he has had an opportunity to go back to the courts again.
§ Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. This is on a different matter. I know that you do not get the opportunity to study the weekend papers in Scotland, but perhaps you will take my word for it that they have been full of reports that Government sources have said that there will be a statement tomorrow on hospital opt-outs, which will approve the opt-out of hospitals in Ayr and Aberdeen.
Have you had notification, Mr. Speaker, of a request to make such a statement, and if so, have you been told what the contents of it will be? Is this not just another example of parliamentary accountability being reduced to the same farce that we have seen in the Government's crooked consultation exercises on this issue and in the whole untenable position of the Government north of the border?
§ Mr. SpeakerSince my recent happy visit to Dundee, I do see the Scottish newspapers, but I have not had any notification of such a statement.
§ Mr. Roger Gale (Thanet, North)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Am I right in saying that you are allowing further questions to the Home Secretary on his second statement?
§ Mr. SpeakerAs the Home Secretary made that comment, I will allow questions to be put to him on it.
§ Mr. GaleI am most grateful, Mr. Speaker. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that, both in the previous case 37 and in the case of Mr. Chahal, all the correct legal processes have been, and will be, followed? In the light of the comments made earlier, can my right hon. Friend tell the House of the growth in the numbers of people seeking asylum in the past four years? Is not that growth a sign that the system is being abused, and if so, is it not to the detriment of genuine asylum seekers, and is that not what the Asylum Bill will redress?
§ Mr. BakerMy hon. Friend goes rather wide, but as the House knows. there has been a substantial increase in the number of asylum seekers. My Department has before it 6,000 applications from Zaireans, all of which have to be processed and looked at individually. I agree that the Asylum Bill is necessary so as to distinguish between the genuine and the bogus asylum seeker. I hope that it will find its way on to the statute book as soon as possible.
§ Mr. SpeakerI will call one more hon. Member. Will the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Cryer) please sit down while I say this? I shall call him, but it does not help the Chair if comments of the kind that I have heard this afternoon from him are made from a sedentary position.
§ Mr. Bob Cryer (Bradford, South)I am grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, but it may be that the sound system is not as accurate as it should be.
Does not the Home Secretary's assurance on the second case—that the person will not lose his court rights--arise directly out of his contempt in the first case, which has demonstrated that he has ignored his responsibility to the court and—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This is not about the first case.
§ Mr. CryerYes, it is. I am linking the two and saying that the Secretary of State has given the House a welcome assurance, but that is surely an attempt to retrieve his position in the first case, which is digraceful.
§ Mr. BakerI advise the hon. Gentleman to look at the two judgments. He will find that the Zairean applied for judicial review on three occasions, and had three hearings, two on the last day. In the case of Mr. Chahal, this is the first of his judicial review cases, and I have given the House a clear undertaking.
§ Mr. Hugo Summerson (Walthamstow)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will be aware that, in the early hours of last Friday morning, Sergeant Alan King of the Metropolitan police, who was based at Chingford police station, was callously and brutally murdered in the execution of his duties—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This comes directly within the sub judice rule. I cannot allow the hon. Member to make comments about the case.
§ Mr. SummersonI do not wish to make a comment about the case, Mr. Speaker. My purpose in raising a point of order is to ask whether you have received a request from the Government to allow them to make a statement about the control of knives, which appear to be used more and more for violent purposes.
§ Mr. SpeakerI have not received a request for a statement to be made on that matter.
§ Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. It has nothing to do with the previous point of order. It is another matter.
§ Mr. SpeakerMaybe, but sit down please. Mr. Hughes.
§ Mr. Robert G. Hughes (Harrow, West)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I seek your guidance. I have proof, which was sent to me anonymously, that the Islington, North Labour party black section Christmas fund-raising social is being advertised by using House of Commons internal envelopes. Is this a matter that I should raise with you, Mr. Speaker, or with the House authorities? It is a disgrace that taxpayers' money is being used for that sort of organisation.
§ Mr. SpeakerIf the hon. Gentleman will bring the envelope to my office, I shall have the matter looked into.
§ Mr. CorbynOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerI call the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner).
§ Mr. SkinnerIn view of the fact that you, Mr. Speaker, have been checking the records lately about what is unparliamentary or otherwise, I ask you to check the word "crap". It has been drawn to my attention that the Tory party has recently received £25,000 from Gerald Ratner. We do not want £25,000-worth of crap being dished out in here, do we? Or is it that Gerald Ratner will be put in charge of propaganda for the Tory party?
§ Mr. CorbynOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerNo. Let me deal with one point of order at a time and think about this one.
I rule that that is definitely an unparliamentary word in this Chamber.
§ Mr. CorbynOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Have you had any intimation from the Home Secretary whether he plans to make a statement about the planned visit tomorrow to this country of the fascist leader from France, Jean-Marie Le Pen? Will he make a statement to the effect that Le Pen is not welcome here and that his nazi connections are found to be odious by everybody in this country who believes in racial harmony and justice rather than a perpetuation of racist ideas?
§ Mr. SpeakerI have had no notice of that, but the matter was certainly raised during business questions last Thursday.