PRIME MINISTER'S BROADCASTS (Hansard, 9 March 1971)

§ Q3. Mr. Barnett
asked the Prime Minister if he will make regular broadcasts on the state of the nation.

§ The Prime Minister
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his suggestion and I can assure him that I shall broadcast whenever appropriate.

§ Mr. Barnett
Since the nation will be hoping for the maximum co-operation, for example, with the T.U.C., is the right hon. Gentleman prepared to reconsider the somewhat hasty dismissal in January of the T.U.C.s serious proposals on wage inflation?

§ The Prime Minister
It has been known to the General Secretary and to the members of the T.U.C. General Council ever since I became Prime Minister that I am always willing to discuss any questions with them. I have on occasions done so. They have asked to see me, and we are meeting on Thursday. As I have already explained, and as my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has also explained, he had the opportunity for three weeks to consider the T.U.C.s proposals before commenting on them. The hon. Gentleman may or may not agree with what my right hon. Friend said about them, but he gave them full consideration. It was not a hasty judgment.

§ Mr. Awdry
Would it be possible for the Prime Minister to speak to the nation without necessarily having to give the Leader of the Opposition a chance the following night to make party political points?

§ The Prime Minister
These matters are governed by the aide memoire concerned 241 with television and broadcasting which was drawn up under the last Administration and agreed by ourselves when in Opposition and by the Liberal Party. I adhere to that, in part because it is helpful that the Leader of the Opposition should follow any broadcast I make.

§ Mr. Hugh Jenkins
Would the right hon. Gentleman not accept that there are quite a number of people who are anxious that he should say something, even if it is only "Goodbye"?

§ The Prime Minister
That is the last thing that they will hear.

§ Q9. Mr. Eadie
asked the Prime Minister if he will now make a Ministerial broadcast explaining Her Majesty's Government's present policies.

§ The Prime Minister
I will bear the hon. Gentleman's suggestion in mind.

§ Mr. Eadie
When the Prime Minister has given due consideration to the proposition in the Question, will he try to get round the country to discover how unpopular his Government are? As a consequence of that, in his broadcast will he state to the public that he has not set a target of one million people unemployed for next winter?

§ The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman knows me and the Government well enough to know that we deplore unemployment. What needs to be done is to develop an economy in which we can be competitive and hold overseas markets. That will not be done by taking on loss-making contracts and pouring subsidies into private industry.

§ Mr. Lane
When the Prime Minister next broadcasts and touches on the Common Market negotiations, will he make it clear to the public that the benefit to this country of joining the Community, in terms of extra growth in our national wealth, is likely to be well over £500 million a year?

§ The Prime Minister
This is an important factor in the long-term consideration of our membership to the E.E.C. It is also true that we can have growth and substantial improvements in growth in this country outside the Community—[HON. MEMBERS: "Ah."] I should have thought that that was obvious—provided that it is not undermined by inflationary 242 wage increases which are exceeding productivity.

§ Mr. Heffer
When the right hon. Gentleman next broadcasts, which is likely to be after his meeting with the T.U.C. leaders, will he be able to tell the nation that at that meeting he and his hon. Friends were prepared to discuss not only the details but the principles of the Industrial Relations Bill? If he is prepared to do that, is he aware that it can lead to quite an interesting and new development as far as the Government are concerned?

§ The Prime Minister
I notice that the hon. Gentleman wishes to discuss the principles of the Bill, not the withdrawal of the Bill. We offered to discuss the principles of the Bill. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment was quite prepared to have a discussion on the Bill but not to go back on what we had put to the electorate at the last election.

§ Mr. Harold Wilson
Would the right hon. Gentleman look up the record and see what happened after the publication of the Consultative Document by his right hon. Friend, who said that he was prepared to receive representations on detail but not on the principle of the Bill? The Prime Minister says that the right hon. Gentleman was not prepared to go back on what was said at the election. Did not the right hon. Gentlemen, in reply to a question by me during the election, say that a Conservative Government would not have enforceable agreements except at the request of both sides?

§ The Prime Minister
We discussed this matter when there was a debate on the White Paper and during the Second Reading of the Bill. I explained the position to the right hon. Gentleman exactly. If the trade unions still wish to discuss the contents of the Bill in a way which can be dealt with during its remaining stages, then we are prepared to listen to what they have to say, as we have always been prepared to do. But we are not prepared to go back on the general policy put to the electorate at the last election, and the T.U.C. knows it.

§ Mr. Harold Wilson
Would the right hon. Gentleman now answer the question I put to him: did he say during the 243 election that agreements would not be enforceable unless both s des agreed that they should be? Will he say "Yes" or "No" to that? Secondly, will he say whether it is in the Bill?

§ The Prime Minister
These matters have been debated. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to examine the statements of the past, I am prepared to do so with him. I took part in the debate specifically to deal with the principles of the Bill.