That this House agrees with the Secretary of State for the Environment that the Government's present arrangements 'fail to ensure that local authorities and other bodies are able to spend the European Regional Development fund receipts to which they are entitled' and that they leave 'the RECHAR programme and other future ERDF receipts in jeopardy'; in view of this, calls on the Prime Minister to withdraw his statement in a letter to the honourable Member for Midlothian that 'the Commission are misrepresenting the position, and we do not accept that they have any basis for their attitude' and to accept the analysis of the Secretary of State for the Environment that 'the present arrangements are no longer tenable' and that 'the need for change is now pressing'; and demands that Her Majesty's Government takes urgent action now to ensure that all the RECHAR funds owing to coalfield areas are made available to them.

That this House agrees with the Secretary of State for the Environment that the Government's present arrangements 'fail to ensure that local authorities and other bodies are able to spend the European Regional Development fund receipts to which they are entitled' and that they leave 'the RECHAR programme and other...

That this House calls on the Secretary of State for Social Security to treat lump sum payments, accepted by retired miners and their widows in commutation of their cash in lieu rights, under the capital rules, to bring an end to the ludicrous state of affairs where the adjudicating authority is likely to decide, in such cases, that a person opting for a lump sum payment has deprived themselves of a regular income for the purposes of obtaining benefit and consequently is to be deemed as if they are still in receipt of that income.

That this House calls on the Secretary of State for Social Security to treat lump sum payments, accepted by retired miners and their widows in commutation of their cash in lieu rights, under the capital rules, to bring an end to the ludicrous state of affairs where the adjudicating authority...

That this House condemns the recent purchase by the Northern Ireland Electricity Board of 27,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa; notes that this is the first such purchase by a United Kingdom generating company in the past 20 years; and further deeply deplores the decision against the background of the fact that the average wage paid to black South African miners is a disgraceful one-fifth of that paid to South African white miners; notes also that it is the price of South African coal determined by its dependence on apartheid and exploitation which leads to the practice of dumping by other coal exporters from Australia, Columbia and elsewhere; and fully supports the terms of the formal complaint made by British Coal to the European Commission.

That this House condemns the recent purchase by the Northern Ireland Electricity Board of 27,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa; notes that this is the first such purchase by a United Kingdom generating company in the past 20 years; and further deeply deplores the decision against the background of...