Points of Order (Hansard, 17 October 1991)

§ Dr. John Cunningham (Copeland)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Exceptionally, before the Leader of the House finishes, in view of the contents of a letter from the right hon. Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher) which has apparently just been published, may I ask him to arrange an urgent statement by the Home Secretary about the Government's position on television franchises?
In a letter to TV-am chief Bruce Gyngell, the right hon. Member for Finchley said: When I see how some of the other licences have been awarded I am mystified that you did not receive yours and heartbroken. I am only too painfully aware that I was responsible for the legislation—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman must paraphrase.

§ Dr. Cunningham
Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us exactly where the Government stand on all this?

§ Mr. MacGregor
I have not seen the letter, so I would not wish to comment on it. The operation of the system and the allocation of the licences is a matter for the Independent Television Commission, not for the Government. The ITC made the decisions.

Several Hon. Members
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Mrs. Clwyd.

§ Mr. Bob Cryer (Bradford, South)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. It relates to the Leader of the House.

§ Mr. Speaker
No, I called Mrs. Clwyd.

§ Mrs. Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will have seen reports today about events in Kurdistan—they now appear almost daily in the press and on television. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Government's safe havens policy is now failing and that we urgently need a statement from the Leader of the House. Saddam Hussein continues to bomb the Kurdish people; winter is approaching; 750,000 people are still without shelter and cannot go back home. Many people are losing their lives as a result of Iraqi mine laying, the Iraqi authorities are blocking both water supplies and repairs to the infrastructure, and Iraqi security forces are refusing to allow the return of hundreds of thousands of Kurds to Kirkuk, creating many no-go areas. Iraq is refusing to sell oil, as recommended by the United Nations, to buy food and medicines. Despite all the promises, the western powers appear to be standing by as the whole awful tragedy unfolds again. We need a statement, and we need it now.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am sure that the Leader of the House will have heard what the hon. Lady said.

§ Mr. Cryer
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. It relates to the Leader of the House—

§ Mr. Speaker
Well, to me then.

§ Mr. Cryer
Indeed. Of course, it is your responsibility to ensure that statements are accurate.

§ Mr. Speaker
That is too heavy a responsibility to put upon my shoulders.

§ Mr. Cryer
Indeed it would be. You must ensure, of course, that statements are honest. When the Leader of the House replied to the question about the Bradford hospital trust, he said that national health service patients were not being denied a service, but that is not true.

§ Mr. Speaker
I do not know about it and that is as may be, but that is just the sort of point that the hon. Gentleman might raise on Monday in the debate.

§ Mr. Cryer
Very good. Thank you very much" Mr. Speaker: that guarantee is what I have been waiting for.

§ Mr. Speaker
I was not allowed to finish my sentence. I should add, if the hon. Gentleman is called.

§ Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps you can help me, because I misunderstood the answer given by the Leader of the House. Which channel will give me the answer because the right hon. Gentleman misled the House as—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Let us keep our standards up here. The Leader of the House would not mislead the House; he may have misled the hon. Lady. What is the hon. Lady's point?

§ Mrs. Mahon
Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman inadvertently misled the House. I should explain that the Leader of the House should know that, under the new market system, if one comes from an area that does not provide the screening service—a service which, before the market system. one could get under the NHS—one cannot

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We cannot debate that now.

§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
Is it a different point of order?

§ Mr. Skinner
It is for you. It is about the arrangement of business. You heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) about the television franchises and the statement made by the former Prime Minister. I realise that you have a problem, Mr. Speaker, in getting the former Prime Minister into this place to speak, because everyone now knows that she wants additional payments before she opens her mouth. We want to know exactly where she stands. She was in favour of the franchises, but now, apparently, she is against. I have got an idea that might resolve the problem and which you can deal with. If you could arrange for a mini-debate in the Tea Room, where the new Countess of Finchley sometimes turns up, we could manage to get to know exactly why it is that she is weeping tears for Mr. Gyngell of TV-am when she was the one who brought the system in and caused all the trouble.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member knows that one of the sadnesses of my present position is that I am unable to go into the Tea Room. I used to enjoy those debates.