Oral Answers to Questions

Viscount Thurso Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight what we are focusing on as a Government. “The Plan for Growth” seeks to give us the most competitive tax system in the G20, to ensure we are the best place in Europe to start, grow and finance a business and to bring about further investment and a flexible work force. None of that can be done if we have the uncertainty that the independence referendum casts over the Scottish economy.

[John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Olympics offer a splendid opportunity for promoting inward investment to Scotland? In that regard, is it not tragic that the torch, having visited Land’s End, will fly over John O’Groats?

[Michael Moore]

My hon. Friend makes his point as eloquently as I would expect him to and I am sure that those who are organising the trip will have heard his points.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

I have huge respect for the people who run our armed services. They do an incredibly good job. They are highly professional people and they are involved in the National Security Council. They were involved in drawing up the strategic defence review. The only point that I have tried to make in recent days is that when we are at war, as we are in both Afghanistan and Libya, it is extremely important, whether one is a political leader or a military leader, to think very carefully about what one is about to say.

[John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Is the Prime Minister aware of the decision, abruptly made, to close the passport office in Wick, which has obliged a six-year-old boy to make a 300 mile round trip for an interview and another constituent to travel to Newcastle? Is that acceptable?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously, I will look closely at the point my hon. Friend raises, but in the modern age we have all sorts of ways of carrying out interviews that do not necessarily involve people having to travel to a passport office. What matters is having an efficient service so that people can get the documentation they need so they can go on the holiday they want.