HC Deb 16 October 1996 vol 282 cc1052-3W
Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library copies of all speeches he made in the week beginning 7 October. [40815]

Mr. Gummer

The main text of my speech during the environment forum of the Conservative party conference and a note on the Government's environmental record that was produced for that are available in the Library. This emphasised the comprehensiveness of the Government's vision for an improved environment for us all, whether in city, town or country.

I also spoke at a number of fringe events about different aspects of current and future Government policies.

Speaking to the agriculture and countryside forum, I set out how Government policies help secure economic development in rural areas in a sustainable manner, and how we are extending our support for key rural services including the isolated village shop.

Speaking at the invitation of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, I demonstrated that the UK is a world leader both in meeting our existing climate change obligations, and in calling for more robust future targets for international action.

Speaking at the invitation of Conservative Students, I showed how active engagement in the European Union enables the Government to achieve a number of important environmental aims which we could not expect to achieve by acting alone.

Finally, I spoke to a meeting of the Conservative political centre on the theme "Town and Townscape—a thousand years of English urban culture". I drew attention to the importance of the town in our history and to the interdependence of urban and rural areas, restated the Government's commitment to strengthening the economy and environmental quality of our existing towns and cities, described how this helped us to realise our sustainable development objectives, and regretted that the official Opposition had signalled their desire to weaken existing support for town centres.

Text or transcripts of these other speeches are not available.