§ 30. Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North)What progress has been made with plans for the opening and closing ceremonies at the millennium dome. [61327]
§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Peter Mandelson)The beginning of the year 2000 will be celebrated right across the country. The New Millennium Experience Company's plans for the opening ceremony are progressing well. The company is liaising with the relevant London authorities, Government Departments and broadcasters to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to the new year's celebrations at the beginning and end of 2000. Plans for the closing ceremony are, understandably, still at a slightly early stage.
§ Mr. ChaytorWill my right hon. Friend make every effort to ensure that the opening ceremony truly reflects the diversity of life in this nation, which some of our national ceremonies—I am thinking of the state opening of Parliament, for example—do not always do? Everybody in the United Kingdom would agree that we want a ceremony that reflects north and south, young and old, black and white—the whole nation together.
§ Mr. MandelsonMy hon. Friend's points are at the heart of the millennium experience and the year-long millennium festival that will take place during the year 2000, and at the heart of the national programme, the millennium challenge, that will take place next year in the run-up to the opening of the dome and the millennium experience itself. The opening and closing ceremonies will reflect the Christian significance of the celebration and the diversity and creativity of the UK as a whole. Both ceremonies will be fitting occasions, uniting the entire country and giving everyone something to be proud 1038 of in a unique marking of the millennium by Britain which will bring together the best of British—pride in our past and, I foresee, considerable confidence in our future.
§ Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey)With so much still left to achieve—but as we begin to look towards the opening ceremony—may I ask the Secretary of State to join me in congratulating the on-site contractors, the team of the New Millennium Experience Company and, in particular, Jenny Page, on their heroic efforts so far—in circumstances not entirely helped by the involvement of the Secretary of State—to ensure that there will be something worth while opening on 31 December next year? Given that the project suffers almost daily from a round of unhelpful and unwelcome rumours and press comment, will the right hon. Gentleman accept—as he has not hitherto done—the vital importance of clarity, frankness and openness in all future statements relating to the dome as the best way to instil public confidence in this project in the 393 days which remain until the opening ceremony?
§ Mr. MandelsonI shall try to make my answer slightly shorter than the question. I take enormous pleasure and pride in joining the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to the New Millennium Experience Company and the scores of people who are working round the clock to make the dome—and the millennium experience—the success that it deserves to be. I am pleased to hear the hon. Gentleman at long last saying something remotely positive about the millennium experience. I only hope that that becomes contagious among his right hon. and hon. Friends.