§ Q1. Mr. Altonasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 7 May.
§ The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.
§ Mr. AltonWhat explanation has the Prime Minister for last Thursday's unemployment figures, for the speech of her right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and for the massive thumbs down given to her by alliance voters? Will she again be offering the excuse that she was out of the country?
§ The Prime MinisterI notice that the alliance party does not seek a majority; it seeks to hold a balance, so that it has a veto—hardly a democratic course of action, if I 618 might say so. I notice also that the hon. Gentleman referred to the speech of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy. With regard to unemployment, my right hon. Friend said:
To obtain growth, we must obtain the right relationship between pay and investment and productivity. An inflationary wage round unlinked with productivity would do immense damage to Britain's economic opportunity.I wholly agree.
§ Sir Edward GardnerIn the light of my right hon. Friend's recently expressed concern, shared by the President of the United States, about the alarming growth of international drug traffic, will she assure the House that she will give the highest priority to means of defeating the threat of having diverted to this country and other European countries a flood of cocaine from a saturated American market?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. and learned Friend. When we had that discussion on drugs, it was clear that almost every country was deeply concerned about the effects on young people and deeply concerned to ensure that we could do more to trap drug traffickers and to dissuade young people from taking drugs. We all agreed to set up an expert committee to see what further could be done. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services and the Treasury are all concerned. We are determined to do as much as we can to rid this country and others in Europe of this vicious trade.
§ Mr. KinnockAs someone who told us on Sunday that she wants to get rid of class divisions, is the Prime Minister aware that there are 2,054,000 more people unemployed, 2.1 million more people on supplementary benefit and 140,000 more people having to claim family income supplement than there were on the day when she became Prime Minister six years ago? In view of that, can the right hon. Lady tell us what independence she thinks those millions of people enjoy while she dreams her idle dreams of a classless society?
§ The Prime MinisterMay I also point out that there are 1.8 million more owner-occupiers since 1979, a policy which was fought tooth and nail by the Labour party? There has been a dramatic extension of share ownership, as shown by the 1.7 million people who now hold shares in British Telecom. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of employee share schemes, an increase in the number of assisted places in schools, and we have dramatically extended the rights of trade union members to a secret ballot, which not only would the right hon. Gentleman never have insisted upon, but which he did everything to fight.
§ Mr. KinnockI hear what the Prime Minister says about share ownership and much else. Does she agree with the view expressed by the Secretary of State for Energy last Friday that people are more than consumers, and on that basis will she now, even at this late hour, reverse her policies of change in the welfare state, which will so greatly disadvantage so many people? Why does she not actively work, if she is interested in independence, to stop unemployment policies which have brought more people into state dependence in six years than ever before?
§ The Prime MinisterI am glad that the right hon. Gentleman referred to the speech of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy. I notice that my right hon. Friend said:
The Labour party, whilst frequently interested in the economic discontentment, appear to be totally unwilling to give the worker the higher status and the higher privilege he seeks.He continued:They are against workers in council houses becoming owner-occupiers, they are against workers having freedom of choice for their children in education. To them it appears that workers are but fragments of a block vote at a Labour party conference and not people whose responsibility and freedoms need to be in their own hands rather than in the hands of a socialist politician or the bureaucrat.Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for letting me quote from my right hon. Friend's speech.
§ Q2. Mr. Andrew MacKayasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 7 May.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. MacKayIf, during her busy day, my right hon. Friend can find a moment to look at last week's county council elections, will she reflect on the fact that in Berkshire, where we had experienced a hung council, which led to a Lib-Lab pact and a rate increase of over 27 per cent., there was a major swing to the Conservatives and we regained control?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing out that when there is a Lib-Lab pact there are high rates, high tax and high spending policies. I think that that fact augurs well for the next local elections.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. DubsIs the Prime Minister aware that, of the world's leading 11 advanced industrial countries, eight have a lower rate of unemployment than we have, and that every one of these 11 countries is showing lower increases in inflation than we are? Indeed, we are the only one that has an increase, whereas the others are going down. Does this not add up to the fact that her ex-Cabinet Ministers, her Cabinet Ministers, her Back Benchers and the electorate are saying no to her economic policies because Britain is not working?
§ The Prime MinisterSome of those countries—all of them, I think, apart from United States and Japan—are afflicted with unemployment; some of them, as the hon. Gentleman has indicated, higher than we have. Some of the others have learnt some of the lessons, in that their unit labour costs are going down just at a time when unit labour costs are rising in this country. That has its effect on unemployment. I might point out to the hon. Gentleman that the proportion of the population of working age in work is higher here—66 per cent.—than in West Germany, higher than in France, higher than in Italy and equal to that in the United States.
§ Q4. Mr. Spellerasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 7 May.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. SpellerIs my right hon. Friend aware that the May day holiday is a total flop in terms of British tourism? Will she consider helping our most successful industry by amalgamating the Spring bank holiday and the May day bank holiday to make one worthwhile west country break?
§ The Prime MinisterWe went out to consultations on just such a scheme in 1982 but opinion was very divided and there was clearly no case at that moment for changing the present arrangements.
§ Dr. OwenDoes the Prime Minister agree that one of the lessons of last Thursday's elections was that people do not like absolute power exercised—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am trying to help Back Benchers to get to their questions.
§ Dr. OwenDoes the Prime Minister recognise that one of the lessons of last Thursday was that people do not like absolute power exercised by minorities, that they do not like ideology and dogmatism and that they are becoming increasingly fed up with the the Prime Minister's own hectoring style? Far from—[Interruption.] If we always have to make ourselves heard above a hubbub [Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. All Members have to make themselves heard.
§ Dr. OwenDoes the Prime Minister realise that, having lost 750,000 votes at the last election, she now exercises power with the support of a minority of the population of this country?
§ The Prime MinisterAs for the right hon. Gentleman's comments about a hectoring style, he has become the arch example of that very thing. I can think of no better description of the style that he has adopted. As for seeking power, the right hon. Gentleman is seeking almost absolute power on a smaller minority.
§ Mr. Patrick ThompsonWill my right hon. Friend take time today to consider the fact that in the past few days there has been hard evidence that industry and employment in Norwich have been adversely affected by the long drawn-out and futile miners' strike? Does she agree that in those circumstances it is hyprocisy for the Opposition to pose as the protectors of jobs?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. Yes, employment was adversely affected, not only in the mining industry but among all the suppliers to the industry and many people are now out of a job as a result of that strike when they would otherwise have been in a job today. My hon. Friend is right. Strikes destroy jobs.
§ Mr. FreesonIs the Prime Minister aware that the Foreign Office has been keeping files on Klaus Barbie and Dr. Mengele and has refused to release those files? In this week of VE celebrations, does the right hon. Lady agree that it would be appropriate to instruct the Foreign Office to release those files? What is it hiding?
§ The Prime MinisterAs the right hon. Gentleman knows, we release files whenever we can to assist either in trials or in commissions of inquiry. That would be our policy, but there are occasions when for very good reasons we cannot do so.
§ Q6. Mr. Doverasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 7 May.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. DoverFollowing the events of last Friday, what assurance can my right hon. Friend give the House that the Government will allow enough time for the passage of the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill promoted by the right hon. Member for South Down (Mr. Powell)?
§ The Prime MinisterI understand my hon. Friend's concern about that Bill. I know that the Bill arouses strong feelings in the House, and I also feel strongly about it, but it has been the practice that the Government do not give Government time for private Members' Bills. Therefore, I cannot offer my hon. Friend any great comfort. My hon. Friend will doubtless also consult my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal, but I cannot give him any hope that he will get a different answer.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesWill the Prime Minister tell the House whether there would he a place for Tory wets in her version of a classless society?
§ The Prime MinisterFor a good climate one needs drys and wets.
§ Mr. Gerald Howarthasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 7 May.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. HowarthIs my right hon. Friend aware that there will be great disappointment that the early negotiations to reduce trade barriers were blocked last week by the French? Will she assure British industry that she will continue to press on our major trading partners the urgent need to deal with this grave problem, which was highlighted by the visit to Japan of our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry?
§ The Prime MinisterThe only one difference of opinion on trade between France and the other countries was not that France was anxious to keep protectionism—she agrees that we must do everything possible to reduce protectionism—but that she was not prepared to put her name to fixing a date for a new round of GATT. The rest of us felt that we should give a lead. France put her name to all other aspects of the communiqué about reducing protectionism.