HC Deb 10 December 1970 vol 808 cc660-3
Ql. Mr. Raphael Tuck

asked the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Watford.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)

I have at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Tuck

That is a pity. Is the Prime Minister aware that I was hoping that after seeing the terrible traffic congestion in the centre of the town he would approach his right hon. Friend the Minister for Transport Industries and ask him to expedite the construction of the North Orbital Extension, which would release this build-up? Does he realise that if something is not done pretty soon Watford will suffer traffic thrombosis and nothing will be able to move? Then he can eat his lunch in front of the Town Hall in the middle of the highway.

The Prime Minister

Planning proposals are being considered by the Secretary of State for the Environment.

Mr. Longden

If my right hon. Friend should decide to visit Watford, will he not neglect to visit the salubrious environs such as Rickmansworth, Radlett, Bushey, Chorley Wood, and Abbots Langley? In each of these places he will receive a warm welcome from my constituents.

The Prime Minister

I appreciate my hon. Friend's invitation.

Q2. Mr. Sillars

asked the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to the Fawley Oil Refinery.

The Prime Minister

There is no Ministerial responsibility for this establishment.

Mr. Sillars

Is the Prime Minister aware that Fawley has made a great contribution towards productivity and that by comparison his Government have made a very poor contribution? Would he not agree that the Government should make an even greater contribution by introducing the same wage formula for working people as has been introduced for generals, in other words, that we have a six-months wage pause followed by a guaranteed 30 per cent. increase in everyone's earnings?

The Prime Minister

Fawley has long been known as having set an example in genuine productivity agreements. I have always urged other firms to follow suit.

Q3. Mr. Carter

asked the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Northfield, Birmingham.

The Prime Minister

I have at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Carter

Is the Prime Minister aware that that reply will be received with great disappointment in Northfield—

Mr. Faulds

You must be joking!

Mr. Carter

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that what Northfield would have liked to hear from the Prime Minister was a repeat of his statement made in his speech to the people of Birmingham on 4th June, that he does not believe in compulsion in wage negotiations? Had he gone, would he have confirmed that the Government are not preparing to bring in a wage freeze in the New Year?

The Prime Minister

The position remains as I have constantly stated it. If the hon. Gentleman is referring to present negotiations, there is no element of compulsion.

Mrs. Knight

Will my right hon. Friend take note of the fact that it is not only the people of Northfield who will be very disappointed by his reply and that, should he decide to visit Birmingham, if he could find time to come just over the border to my constituency he would be assured of an ecstatic welcome?

The Prime Minister

I will try to remove my hon. Friend's disappointment as soon as possible.

Q9. Mr. John D. Grant

asked the Prime Minister if he will pay an official visit to the London Borough of Islington.

The Prime Minister

I have at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Grant

Unlike my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Carter), I am deeply grateful to the Prime Minister for his reply, and I expect the people of Islington to express their gratitude to him in the borough council elections next May. Has the right hon. Gentleman read the Greve Report—if his Ministerial friends have allowed him to see it? If so, is it not time for him to take a more personal interest in the problems of homelessness in the inner London boroughs like Islington? Will he pay attention to this matter?

The Prime Minister

Yes, I will. But it is the direct responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Environment, who, as the hon. Gentleman knows, has been dealing with it.