---

Home Affairs and Communities

It is a great privilege and pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Portsmouth, North (Sarah McCarthy-Fry), who made an excellent speech. She obviously knows a great deal about the history of her constituency. I am a sailing man myself and know what a thrill and pleasure it is to sail out of Portsmouth harbour, passing all that history. She mentioned the Spithead review: at the risk of injecting a tiny note of controversy, I have to say that it is a pity that our fleet on that occasion will be a little smaller than it was the last time. None the less, hers was an excellent speech on which I warmly congratulate her. I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie). What a great pleasure and honour it is to be the first Conservative Member of Parliament to welcome him to the House. His speech was most moving. Having said that he came from an ordinary background, he expressed his great pride in this place, in our Britishness and in the jobs and the hope that he has given to those whom he has employed in the past. He also voiced his determination to proceed along the path of empowering ordinary people. His was a wonderful speech and we are grateful to him. We also welcome my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr. Benyon). He was a candidate in that constituency for 11 years and has finally made it to this House. I pay tribute to his predecessor, David Rendel, who was a colleague on the Public Accounts Committee, a superb member of that Committee, and highly regarded in the House. Finally, thanks are due to Syd Rapson, whom the hon. Member for Portsmouth, North mentioned. He was a well-liked and thoroughly decent man, whom we will miss greatly. From new Labour, I turn to old Labour and the right hon. Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher)—if I can catch his attention. It was a pleasure to listen to his speech. He, a Labour MP, said that the Queen’s Speech was piecemeal and that there was an ““absence of vision””—I hope that I quote him accurately. That was to be the theme of my remarks, too. We all know that the Queen’s Speech is not really the Queen’s Speech, but the Government’s. What is worse, however, is that this Queen’s Speech does not even come from the Government themselves: it is merely an amalgam of what focus groups have told the Government would be popular. It lacks any sort of theme. I am sure that focus groups told the Government that the introduction of identity cards would be a popular measure. It was significant that the Home Secretary said that identity cards are supported by 80 per cent. of the population.