§ 12. Mr. John Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in the light of recent discussions between the Government and the Trades Union Congress, he will make a further statement on Government policy in relation to prices and incomes.
§ Mr. BarberI have nothing to add to what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said on 21st March.—[Vol. 833. c. 1338–9.]
§ Mr. SmithDoes not the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is time that the Government started to take seriously some of the constructive proposals coming forward from the trade unions, especially that suggesting that there should be a serious examination of the possibility of introducing threshold wage agreements? If the Government took them a little more seriously, would they not be in a better position to expect co-operation?
§ Mr. BarberThe hon. Gentleman is misinformed. I was in the Chair at the November meeting of the National Economic Development Council. At that meeting both the C.B.I. and the T.U.C. were invited to consider the practical implications of threshold agreements. The subject was also raised when, with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and other colleagues, I met the T.U.C. on 9th March. The Government cannot reach a general conclusion on such agreements until they have been fully discussed and considered and until we have had a chance of considering and discussing with the C.B.I. and the T.U.C. their views.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneBearing in mind that threshold agreements simply institutionalise inflation, will my right hon. Friend think carefully before agreeing to finance the current and capital requirements of the nationalised industries from the printing press to enable them to play ball with the C.B.I. for another year?
§ Mr. BarberOn the first part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question, if I understand him correctly, he is right in suggesting that no one can say that in principle threshold agreements are good or bad. One has to see how they will work out, and one has to consider them 217 and discuss them with the parties concerned. On the second part of my hon. Friend's question, I do not think that what he suggests is justified by the facts.
§ Mr. TaverneThe hon. Member for South Angus (Mr. Bruce-Gardyne) suggested that threshold agreements were bad. Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that cost-of-living agreements with the unions have been very successful on the Continent, where the rate of inflation has been rather lower?
§ Mr. BarberI agree with the hon. and learned Gentleman that we should consider carefully the advantages and disadvantages of threshold agreements. We have said that we will do this. I made that clear at the N.E.D.C. meeting and I suggested that both sides of industry should go away after that meeting and consider the matters, and that then we should have an opportunity of discussing the considered views on both the C.B.I. and the T.U.C.