CONSERVATIVE WOMEN'S CONFERENCE (PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH) (Hansard, 21 June 1973)

§ Q2. Mr. Dalyell
asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech to the Conservative Women's Conference on 23rd May on the exertion of Great Britain's influence abroad.

§ Q3. Mr. McCrindle
asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech on company law to the Conservative Women's Conference on 23rd May.

§ Q4. Mr. Clinton Davis
asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech which he made to the Conservative Women's Conference in London on 23rd May 1973 on aspects of capitalism.

§ Q6. Mr. Wyn Roberts
asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech on Government aims, at Central Hall, Westminster, on 23rd May.

§ The Prime Minister
I did so on 24th May, Sir.

§ Mr. Dalyell
How does the Prime Minister reconcile the rather grandiose generalities about Britain's influence in the world, with which he regaled the Conservative ladies, with his inability to dent President Pompidou's policy across the Channel on nuclear tests?

§ The Prime Minister
On the hon. Member's own basis, nation States of the Community are still responsible for their own defence and foreign policy.

§ Mr. Wyn Roberts
Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that despite the much-regretted but nevertheless-to-be-enforced withdrawal of Mr. Hugh Scanlon from the TUC team negotiating over phase 3, these negotiations will continue to what we hope will be a successful conclusion? Will he further reassure the House that the Government will continue to represent the interests of the nation as a whole, but particularly of those groups that are not represented by trade unions and are therefore liable to suffer more than most in conditions of excessive inflation?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, Sir—that is the purpose of the talks that the Government have now resumed with the TUC and the CBI. I regret the absence of Mr. Scanlon from these talks. Mr. Scanlon has said that he believes that the decision was wrong but that he must be bound by it. The General Secretary of the TUC has already spoken of continuing talks with the Government, but the makeup of the delegation of the TUC is entirely a matter for the TUC.

§ Mr. Davis
In his speech the Prime Minister seemed to suggest that the excesses and abuses of the capitalist system, to which he referred, were just isolated events. Is he not aware that tax mitigation schemes now represent a very large growth industry in Britain and that tax havens are used on a widespread basis? What effective action will the right hon. Gentleman take, instead of his pathetic bleatings, to deal with these very real abuses as a matter of great urgency?

§ The Prime Minister
Where there is abuse of the existing law the Government have already taken action to set up an inquiry into the case. This is quite appropriate under the Companies Act. As I have told the House, the reform of companies legislation, which is normally carried through every 10 years, will be carried through by the present Government in the next Session. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has already given the House information about the attention that he has given to specific examples of tax avoidance and evasion that have been brought to his notice.

§ Mr. Adley
In his speech my right hon. Friend referred to the Labour Party's programme. In view of the apparent concern shown by the Labour Party about food prices, will he explain to the nation how the nationalisation of 25 major companies in Britain, at an unexplained expense to the taxpayer, will reduce food prices?

§ The Prime Minister
That is a matter for the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition or one of his right hon. Friends to deal with.

§ Mr. Healey
In view of the bumbling incompetence shown by the firm, Slater Walker, in handling its own affairs over recent weeks, does the Prime Minister feel that this qualifies the firm to have 863 taken over 100 companies over the last 18 months without any mandate from the British people, or is this another aspect of the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism to which the right hon. Gentleman now regularly refers?

§ The Prime Minister
If the right hon. Gentleman is making accusations that a particular firm has broken the law, he ought to inform the Director of Public Prosecutions. If he is not making an accusation of breaking the law, it is a matter for the shareholders of the firm to take their own decision.