HC Deb 03 May 1973 vol 855 cc1457-9
Ql. Dr. Vaughan

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the public speech he made at the Guildhall on 10th April on the economy.

Q8. Mr. David Steel

asked the Prime Minister whether he will place in the Library a copy of the public speech he made in the Guildhall on 10th April on the economy.

Q10. Mr. Wyn Roberts

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Commons a copy of his public speech at the Guildhall on 10th April on Government policies.

Qll. Mr. Adley

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech at the Guildhall on Tuesday 10th April on Government policies.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)

I did so on 11th April, Sir.

Dr. Vaughan

I think we would all agree that the Government are beginning to win the psychological battle as well as the real battle on the economy and that the country and the unions are beginning to realise this. Does the Prime Minister support the statement of Mr. Clapham, of the CBI, that the economy of this country is going up like a rocket?

The Prime Minister

The figures for wage negotiations under stage 2 strongly support what my hon. Friend has said. Already, 3 million people are receiving wage increases which were negotiated before the standstill and deferred, and furthermore nearly 3 million have negotiated agreements under stage 2. Those figures support my hon. Friend's view. The expansion of the economy is being maintained at 5 per cent., or perhaps at slightly more than the 5 per cent. rate which the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced.

Mr. David Steel

In that speech the Prime Minister referred to changing pub- lic attitudes on industrial relations. Will he confirm that the changing attitudes include the Government's attitude, and that they are positively moving forward into constructive proposals for industrial partnership?

The Prime Minister

The Government have, in fact, taken the lead in this matter. They did so when they negotiated the talks at Chequers last summer, in which the CBI and the TUC co-operated. We made a great deal of progress at that time, although we did not reach final agreement in October. Since then there have been continuing talks, and in all these matters the Government have put forward a constructive approach.

Mr. Roberts

Another theme in that speech was the reconciliation of competing interests and claims. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the fact that only a comparatively small number of workers participated in the strike on 1st May indicates that the majority of workers are abandoning the philosophy of conflict propounded and so beloved by hon. Gentlemen on the Opposition benches?

The Prime Minister

Yes, there is a great deal of truth in what my hon. Friend says. The public statements that have been made and the articles that have been written by several trade union leaders in the last few weeks have clearly indicated their desire to adopt the approaches which my hon. Friend has outlined.

Mr. Joel Barnett

As the Prime Minister and his colleagues appear to be so convinced that the economy is going up like a rocket, will he confirm that phase 3 will be less stringent than phase 2?

The Prime Minister

We are inviting the trade unions and the CBI to discuss with us the form of stage 3 and what it should be quantitatively. It is better to await those discussions, because stage 3 will also be affected by the findings of the Pay Board on anomalies and its suggestions on how these should be dealt with in that period. The hon. Gentleman and his friends must make up their minds whether they want to have an expanding economy. This is an expanding economy, and they had better say whether or not they approve of expansion.

Mr. Adley

Is not it clear from the so-called May Day demonstration that the majority of people want to get on with the job and take advantage of our expanding economy, and that the only people who appear to want to wreck it are a small number of militant trade unionists and most of the Parliamentary Labour Party?

The Prime Minister

It was demonstrated clearly that the great majority of the working population, which numbers 23 million—of whom more than 21 million were at their jobs—want to carry on and do not want to have political strikes. It will long remain in the memories of people that it was the Labour Party which supported a political strike.

Mr. Harold Wilson

On inflation, which was the subject of the speech, will the Prime Minister say what his calculations are of the average increase for 5 million council house tenants, required under his legislation coming into effect over the past seven days?

The Prime Minister

I gave the right hon. Gentleman the figures when he last raised the matter. If he wants fresh figures and cares to put down a Question I shall give them to him.

Mr. Wilson

On previous occasions the Prime Minister said how difficult it was to work out what the councils would do. Now he knows. Does he say that at no time since 28th April has he made any inquiries to satisfy himself about the penalty that he is inflicting on 5 million households?

The Prime Minister

We are not inflicting a penalty on 5 million households. We have given a benefit—which the Labour Government never did—to all those families with two children living on up to average earnings. If the right hon. Gentleman is saying that however much people earn they should not pay fair rents for local authority houses, he is rejecting his own policy.