That this House notes the article by Mr Martin Sixsmith in the Sunday Times of 9th May, which states that, because of the electoral threat facing New Labour from the Scottish National Party in the run-up to the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, the Prime Minister reversed the Government's competition policy and allowed GEC to merge its defence arm with its main rival, BAE, effectively creating a monopoly supplier, in return for GEC agreeing to buy the threatened Govan shipyard; calls on the Prime Minister to confirm or deny this story; believes that this illustrates that only when Scotland backs the SNP is the Government in London forced into defending Scottish interests out of electoral fear; and further believes that this lesson will not be lost on the shipyard workers, or on Scotland as a whole, as the elections to the European Parliament approach.

That this House notes the article by Mr Martin Sixsmith in the Sunday Times of 9th May, which states that, because of the electoral threat facing New Labour from the Scottish National Party in the run-up to the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, the Prime Minister reversed the Government's competition policy...