Sir, now this Council is asked to deal with this
And let me now deal with the
matter by two stages.
as some of our
argument that this Bill is self-contained,
Members seem to think it is. Suppose we say yes to it
today and then we are not happy with part two when it is
brought before us in a few months' time and we say no
then. Then the link will be severed and Mr. David LI will
not be happy because this is not the link that he wants to
sever. But of course the Administration may be confident
happen. Because the Government is
that this will not
quite sure that this Council will rubber stamp everything
which is put before it. Indeed the Urban Councillors
reminded us and our image by seeing albeit the Government
is treating Members of this Council with contempt like а
rubber stamp. Well, Sir, I am quite used to that.
When the ad hoc group asked Mr. John CHAN, the
Deputy Chief Secretary, whether this portion of the White
Paper which is not even sensitive can be supplied to us on
a confidential basis one or two days before this debate so
that we could at least know what is happening when we
write our speeches, the answer was 'No'. When I rang him
up yesterday afternoon and said: 'Sir, when can I have my
embargo copy of the White Paper?' He thought for about
two seconds: '2.30 pm, Wednesday'.