§ Q1. Mr. PickthallTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 11 May.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major)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. PickthallI thank the Prime Minister and the many Cabinet Ministers who campaigned in Lancashire in recent weeks and helped Labour vastly to increase its vote and achieve a majority on the local council. Was it in Lancashire that the Government heard about the challenging environment that they faced, the big hole that they were in and the bloody nose they were about to get? Did they listen to the people of Lancashire on value added tax, testing in schools, unemployment and the attacks on local democracy? Can the people of Britain expect the Government's supposed listening to the people to be translated into action to rebuild the country, instead of the present policies which are dismantling it?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman clearly deserves an A-level in smugness. Perhaps I may quote something to the hon. Gentleman from The Sunday Times that I have no doubt he will find of interest. The quote, which he may enjoy, reads as follows:
Conservative set-backs in Thursday's county council elections … were so severe that Labour would win the general election on the same voting breakdown.That was The Sunday Times in 1985. Two years later we won the election with a majority of 100.
§ Mr. ConwayIs my right hon. Friend feeling cheerful, because he should? Is it not the case that we have every reason to be optimistic because, of all the countries that pulled out of the exchange rate mechanism last autumn, the United Kingdom is the only country to have pulled out of recession?
§ The Prime MinisterThe principal reason Britain has come out of recession is that we have achieved low inflation; because we have got inflation down, we were able to cut 5 per cent. off interest rates—[Interruption.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. Will hon. Members; on the Bench below the Gangway please desist until we get through Question Time? They can then go outside and have their own singsong.
§ The Prime MinisterI think that everyone was enjoying it, Madam Speaker. It was because we cut inflation that we were able to take 5 per cent. off interest rates before last September, and because we got inflation down we are now beginning to see a recovery in retail sales and exports since the spring. It is because of that that we shall see greater growth this year and next year than any other country in the European Community.
§ Mr. John SmithCan the Prime Minister tell the House whether the Budget in November will be presented by the present Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Thames (Mr. Lamont)?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is a hoary old chestnut of a question. I have not yet even begun to contemplate Cabinet changes. But I will say this: it is because my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has taken difficult decisions that we now have inflation at a 25-year low, interest rates at a 15-year low and prospects of the fastest growth in Europe this year and next year. That is an excellent record which people will recognise long after the right hon. and learned Gentleman's undignified sniping is forgotten.
§ Mr. SmithSurely the Prime Minister heard the question quite clearly. It is a simple question: will the present Chancellor present the next Budget? Cannot the Prime Minister say either yes or no?
§ The Prime MinisterI explained very clearly to the right hon. and learned Gentleman. If I wanted advice on Cabinet making, I would not seek it from the right hon. and learned Gentleman, who last week had to sack his own economic spokesman for incompetence.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The House must come to order.
§ Mr. SmithThe Prime Minister seems to be having some difficulty with a simple question—[Interruption.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The House must come to order and not use up time in this way.
§ Mr. SmithMay I give the Prime Minister a third shot at it? Will the present Chancellor present the Budget? If the Prime Minister cannot say yes, why cannot he say no?
§ The Prime MinisterWhy does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman just admit that he has got a bloody nose? It is a good deal more dignified.
§ Mr. MarlowMy right hon. Friend—as a genuine, listening Prime Minister—will be aware of the alienation expressed in the constituencies last week. He will also be aware of the severe mauling given to the Maastricht treaty by the democratic process. Is he not greatly concerned about the massive alienation that would result if the ratification of this new constitution now depended on the Danes, the Whips and the courts alone?
§ The Prime MinisterIf, as my hon. Friend intimates, the election was really about the Maastricht treaty, it is rather surprising how well some other political parties did.
§ Mr. AshdownAfter Srebrenica, just as I predicted, there has been Zepa. Does the Prime Minister still insist on doing nothing more to save the tens of thousands of innocents in Gorazde from a similar tragic fate?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is being deeply unfair to the efforts by both this country and a large number of other countries which are working together. The right hon. Gentleman is aware of the difficulties and also of the intense dangers of following some of the actions that he has advocated in the past. He knows what action we are proposing to take; that remains the position and we continue to discuss that and other options with our allies.
§ Mr StreeterIs my right hon. Friend aware that on a recent visit to estate agents in Plympton in my constituency, I found that estate agents could talk of nothing else but a real and significant upturn in the housing market, with house sales increasing and house prices improving week by week? Does my right hon. Friend agree that that reflects a steady return to confidence in this country and represents good news for Plymouth, good news for the country and bad news for the Opposition?
§ The Prime MinisterI am sure that that is right in every aspect. I have not myself visited estate agents, as I have no intention of moving.
§ Q2. Mr. MilburnTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 11 May.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. MilburnDoes the Prime Minister share his Chancellor's lack of regret about the damage done to the country by his Government? Is not it time that he learned to apologise and to listen to the millions of people who have become the victims of his policies? Has he got time today to tell them what changes in direction he has planned following last week's overwhelming public rejection not only of him and his colleagues but of his Government's policies?
§ The Prime MinisterI have said before, and from the Dispatch Box, that I understand the difficulties that people have faced as a result of the recession. I have said that clearly. I have also made it clear that I appreciate that it has lasted longer than people anticipated, but it was necessary to bring inflation down, or inflation would have gone on wreaking ever-greater damage for an even longer period. We needed to bring it down; we have brought it down. That is the only secure basis for lasting growth in the future. The fact is that the Labour party would never have had the guts to take the decisions that were necessary.