§ Q2. Mr. Meacherasked the Prime Minister if he will place a copy in the Library of his public speech at Bexleyheath on 25th November on economic affairs.
§ Q9. Dr. Vaughanasked the Prime Minister if he will place in the library a copy of his public speech on Government policies towards industry made at Bexley on 25th November.
§ Q14. Mr. Redmondasked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech at Bexley-heath on Saturday 25th November 1972 on economic policy.
§ Q18. Mr. Skinnerasked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech at Bexley on 25th November 1972 on prices.
§ The Prime MinisterI did so on 28th November, Sir.
§ Mr. MeacherIn that speech the Prime Minister looked forward to tackling inflation decisively. Has he seen the latest assessment of our inflation next year as 9 per cent., coupled with the view of the Director General of the CBI and others that our growth rate will have fallen to 3 per cent.? With those prospects, how long does he think his Government will be able to sustain the return to high fixed parity for sterling or, if he prefers, lower fixed parity, and how many hundreds of millions of pounds does he estimate we shall lose under the Basle agreement?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not accept either of the hon. Gentleman's statements.
§ Dr. VaughanDoes the Prime Minister agree that whatever else the two by-elections may or may not show they did not show any support for the Opposition's views on a number of actions taken by the Government in the national interest? Will he now seek discussions with the Leader of the Opposition on whether he will change his mind on his attitude towards the statutory freeze?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that I ought to leave all these matters of opposition to the Opposition.
§ Mr. SkinnerWill the right hon. Gentleman go a little further in regard to the proposals which he was putting forward in that speech, about using ingenuity in buying and selling? Did he have his own purchases in mind? Can he explain why he is buying a brand-new yacht manufactured under a Socialist tax—SET—and before his brand-new European value added tax comes into force? As he is First Lord of the Treasury, should he not be assisting it?
§ The Prime MinisterMy private affairs are my own business, just like the private affairs of any other Member of this House, including the lion Gentleman.
§ Mr. RedmondHas my right hon. Friend seen the report in today's Financial Times which implies that President Nixon will continue his prices and incomes policy when the present phase ends? Does not this rather show that this sort of policy works if it is supported? Will he do something to make sure that the cost of coal does not increase, and that wages are kept within reasonable bounds. 229 so that that industry can get properly off the ground?
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government will make a statement in due course about the second phase of this policy. As for the second part of my hon. Friend's question, it was dealt with yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
§ Mr. Harold WilsonIn view of the references in that speech to industrial expansion and the repeated references to the creation of more jobs and the employment boom, will the Prime Minister explain why it is that over the year ending September this year the latest figures show that the number of jobs in the Production Index industries has fallen by 340,000?
§ The Prime MinisterI thought that the right hon. Gentleman would be concerned with the total of employment in this country and the fall in unemployment. What he cannot deny is that against the seasonal trend unemployment has been continuously falling in these months. Surely he has enough generosity left inside him to be pleased with that.
§ Mr. WilsonThe right hon. Gentleman is right to say that I am concerned about what he is referring to, namely, the volume of employment. Will he tell the House why it has fallen by 340,000 over the last year, during his so-called jobs boom?
§ The Prime MinisterI thought that the right hon. Gentleman was concerned with the figures of unemployment. We have published our own analysis as to what has happened to unemployment. It is clearly coming down, and the right hon. Gentleman should be pleased about it.
§ Mr. WilsonThe Prime Minister in his reply to the first supplementary question referred to the volume of employment. [An HON. MEMBER: "Unemployment."] He referred to employment as well. We shall read HANSARD tomorrow very carefully. Will the Prime Minister now answer the question? In his manifesto he said that a Conservative Government would create more jobs. The question is why in a year of unexampled pumping of money into industry, most of which went into speculation in land and property, employment has fallen by 230 340,000? Will he stop dodging the question?
§ The Prime MinisterWill the right hon. Gentleman also stop refusing to acknowledge that unemployment has come down; this means that more jobs have been provided. If he wants a detailed explanation of the figure of 340,000 which he alleges, I shall obtain it for him.