§ Q3. Mr. Meacherasked the Prime Minister what reply he has given to delegations that have recently come to see him to request the total or partial withdrawal of the Housing Finance Bill.
§ The Prime MinisterI told the right hon. Member for Grimsby (Mr. Crosland) and his hon. Friends that I did not think that such a meeting would serve any useful purpose, since the Government were resolved to proceed with the Bill and to carry it into law.
§ Mr. MeacherHas the Prime Minister still not learned, even after U.C.S., Rolls-Royce, compromise with the T.U.C. and now the re-introduction of the I.R.C. and investment grants under another name—[Hon. Members: "Reading."]—that confrontation will not pay off in 1673 British politics? Will he withdraw the Bill or tone it down, or is he so rigid that he—[Interruption.]—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is enough.
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman ought to learn his own supplementary questions. The answer is "No, Sir".
§ Mr. RedmondHas my right hon. Friend met a number of people, as I have, who are extremely distressed by Socialist propaganda about the Bill and have no conception of the number of rents that will be reduced?
§ The Prime MinisterI gave the figures to the House a short time ago. Two million tenants, both in local authority and in private tenancies, will receive rent rebates under the Bill. Whereas the last Administration in their White Paper paid lip service to the idea that there should be rent rebate schemes—certainly for local authority tenancies, although they did not tackle private tenancies—the plain fact was that in 1971, 40 per cent. of local authorities still had no rent rebate scheme. The Bill will deal with that position.