HC Deb 04 July 1972 vol 840 cc240-1
Q4. Mr. Leslie Huckfield

asked the Prime Minister whether he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech to the Press Association on 14th June on Government policies.

The Prime Minister

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29th June to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Duffy).—[Vol. 839, c. 1657–64.]

Mr. Huckfield

Does the Prime Minister recall that he devoted a great deal of his time in that speech to the themes of instant think and the speed-up of modern communications? How about giving the country a massive demonstration of the speed of modern communications by adopting some of the ideas which the TUC will put to him in one and a half hours' time? Why does not the right hon. Gentleman scrap the Industrial Relations Act and get down to understanding the aspirations of working-class people in Britain?

The Prime Minister

I made the Government's position on that quite clear yesterday.

Mr. Kinsey

My right hon. Friend will remember that in his speech he spoke of the help that the present Government have given to the aged, the needy and the sick in our community. Will he continue to say what we have done, because the country needs to be aware of how we have helped the Opposition failed?

The Prime Minister

I agree with my hon. Friend.

Mr. Alfred Morris

Is the Prime Minisster at least prepared to accept that one man's rent increase is the same man's wage cut? In the interests of a rapprochement with the trade unions later today, is he prepared to put the Housing Finance Bill on ice?

The Prime Minister

No, Sir. What the hon. Gentleman has just said is an excellent example of the phrase quoted by one of his hon. Friends and an example of gross distortion of the situation. Those who are living in local authority houses will pay a fair rent, which was the system advocated by the Minister in the previous Government but which they never had the guts to carry through. Nor will they recognise that, for the first time, tenants in private accommodation will receive rent rebates, from which the lower-paid workers of the community can benefit, and that council tenants also will be eligible for this rebate throughout the country. This is a sensible, rational and helpful housing programme.