Rules and Regulations (Hansard, 26 April 1995)

§ 10. Mr. Steen
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what rules and regulations he plans to repeal in the next four weeks. [19578]

§ Mr. Lang
I have it in mind to introduce a number of regulations covering a variety of matters. These will be presented to Parliament in the usual way. I cannot say which may be proposed on the time scale that my hon. Friend mentions.

§ Mr. Steen
In view of my right hon. Friend's well-known personal commitment to deregulation, has he evaluated the effect on bureaucracy of Labour's plans to devolve Scotland? Will it increase bureaucracy, as I believe it will? Will it develop into a new army of tartan bureaucrats who will go around making more rules and regulations and affecting the prosperity of Scotland?

§ Mr. Lang
My hon. Friend sets me a large task to evaluate Labour's plans, since they change periodically and are extremely obscure, but one thing is certain: the creation of an extra tier of government through a tax-raising Scottish Parliament would increase the tax and the bureaucratic burdens on the people of Scotland and be immensely damaging to Scotland.

§ Mr. Dalyell
What will the right hon. Gentleman do about the Crown Office rule that it does not answer straight questions on Lockerbie?

§ Mr. Lang
I do not think that I would seek to answer them under a question about the laying of rules and regulations.

§ Mr. Wilson
Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the nuclear industry is properly surrounded by a great deal of regulation? Does he recognise that the nuclear industry enjoys a high measure of public confidence and support in my constituency because, for instance, of its 100 per cent. safety record, under public ownership? Will he further recognise that Scottish Nuclear is extremely profitable and that it has met the nation's energy needs, under public ownership? What conceivable right has the right hon. Gentleman to acquiesce in the destruction of all that to achieve the short-term Tory aim of tax cuts before a general election?

§ Mr. Lang
I certainly do not propose to acquiesce in the loss of the nuclear electricity industry in Scotland, which is what would happen if the Labour party came to power and implemented its policy. However, I can share with the hon. Gentleman the common ground that the Government attach great concern to the importance of safety. Nothing that we are considering would in any way undermine that. We shall always continue to give the highest priority to safety matters where nuclear power is concerned.