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Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Fergus Montgomery (Conservative), on Tuesday, 15 March 1994, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 10 members in total.

LABOUR PARTY AND AID TO MALAYSIA

That this House deplores the irresponsible posturing and continued smear and innuendo by the Labour Party over the provision of aid to Malaysia by the ODA, particularly for the Pergau Dam project; notes that statements by the honourable Members for Monklands West, Copeland and others have jeopardised previously excellent trading relations with Malaysia and have therefore seriously put at risk jobs throughout the North of England and Scotland at GEC Alsthom (Liverpool), Kvaerner Bovine (Doncaster), Whessoe (Darlington), Keller Colcrete (West Yorkshire), Hystat Systems Ltd. (Huddersfield), George Turton Platt & Co. Ltd. (Sheffield), Whitley Ltd. (Otley), Reyton Metals Electrical Division (Wakefield), Landon Engineering Ltd. (Newcastle upon Tyne), International Transformers Ltd. (Manchester), Loundsdale Electric Ltd, (Renfrew), Thyssen Carfield Ltd. (Altrincham), R. Smith & Sons Ltd. (Birkenhead), Tubeline Components Ltd. (Widnes), IMI Yorkshire Alloys Ltd. (Leeds), Instrument Transformers (East Kilbride), Leyden Transmission Ltd. (West Yorkshire), Hansen Transmissions (Huddersfield). Rodley Engineering Ltd. (Leeds), Instrument Transformer Ltd. (East Kilbride), Edmunson Electrical Ltd. (Merseyside), Newey & Eyre Ltd. (Liverpool), Grove Worldwide Ltd. (Sunderland), Senior Hargreaves (Bury) , R. F. Winder (West Yorkshire), all of whom have contracts indirectly or directly concerning the Pergau Dam; would remind Labour honourable Members of their responsibilities towards the jobs and living standards of their constituents, responsibilities which ought to transcend Labour's obsession with cheap political point scoring; and concludes that Labour's Business Plan for Britain is exposed as the ineffectual fig-leaf for effective policy that it is, as Labour honourable Members appear to be prepared, in practice, to sacrifice the business orders, exports and related jobs of thousands of British workers, for the opportunity to attack Britain's trading partners in the increasingly important South East Asian regional market.

Amendments

The Early day motion has received an amendment.

LABOUR PARTY AND AID TO MALAYSIA (856A1)
The Early day motion has received an amendment sponsored by Lord Watson of Invergowrie (primary, Labour) and tabled on Thursday, 17 March 1994. It has been signed by 6 members in total.
leave out from 'House' to end and add 'congratulates the Labour Party for its vigorous scrutiny of the action of Her Majesty's Government in going ahead with the Pergau Dam project against the advice of the Overseas Development Administration's Permanent Secretary and Accounting Officer, Sir Tim Lankester, who described the project as "a bad one in economic terms" and "an abuse of the aid programme"; believes that the ??244 million of taxpayers' money wasted on the Pergau Dam project would have been better spent on alleviating poverty than on an uneconomic project which has the effect of undermining the credibility of British aid; congratulates the Committee of Public Accounts and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee for carrying out their duty to Parliament in investigating the link between aid to Malaysia and arms sales; believes that if aid to Malaysia had been properly handled it would have resulted in more rather than less business between Britain and Malaysia; and refutes the claims of Conservative honourable Members to be concerned primarily with the creation of employment in the United Kingdom, when their party has presided over record levels of unemployment and has consistently opposed initiatives proposed to promote and increase the output of British manufacturing industry.'.

Secondary information

Type
Early day motion
Reference
856 
856A1 
Session
1993-94
Other sponsors
Nick Hawkins
Donald Thompson
John Sykes
Lord Davies of Stamford
Subjects
Contracts Development aid Exports Malaysia Labour Overseas Development Administration Pergau dam Aid financed trade
Link
View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk