§ Q3. Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Prime Minister what request for an official meeting he has received from the leader of the Greater London Council.
§ The Prime MinisterNone, Sir.
§ Mr. CoxIs the Prime Minister aware that the newly-elected Labour GLC inherited far more than traffic jams? It also inherited the land and housing scandals that abound throughout London. Decent, honest, hard-working people are being hounded out of their homes by the activities of spiv property developers, who have been aided and abetted by this 743 Government's deplorable housing policies. What financial help will the Prime Minister offer to the GLC or the London boroughs to enable them to put compulsory purchase orders on the 100,000 empty properties in London so that they can be made available for Londoners to live in? Will he help or hinder London in this object?
§ The Prime MinisterI thoroughly reject the hon. Gentleman's accusations.
On the second part of his question, if the leader of the GLC wishes to have discussions with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, no doubt he will consider it.
§ Mr. DykesDoes my right hon. Friend agree that it would be wholly inappropriate for the Labour-controlled GLC to push forward with its absurd idea for free or artificially very cheap public transport in London, the cost of which the ratepayers would have to bear rather than the many millions of visitors to London?
§ The Prime MinisterThis is a matter for the GLC, as transport authority, to decide. I should think that everybody realises that there is no such thing as free transport.
§ Mr. William HamiltonThe right hon. Gentleman has got it.
§ The Prime MinisterSomebody has to pay for it. In this case the GLC's ratepayers would pay for it.
When I use the car for my private purposes I pay for it.
§ Mr. MolloyWill the Prime Minister bear in mind that the continued exodus of industry from London is having a serious effect in terms of the increased unemployment of trained men who have served apprenticeships and are having to do work which they find humiliating, and a serious social effect throughout London as a whole? Only this week another large firm in my constituency closed. Will the right hon. Gentleman urge the two Ministers responsible to treat London with special consideration because of the movement of industrial organisations?
§ The Prime MinisterI know that change of this kind produces particular 744 problems for parts of London where the occurrences take place. After all, I am a London Member of Parliament. But I cannot agree with the hon. Gentleman's generalisation at the beginning of his question. The plain fact is that unemployment in London has fallen considerably. Indeed, some firms are now finding difficulty in getting skilled and specialised manpower.
§ Later—
§ Mr. William HamiltonOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister, in answer to a supplementary question on Question No. Q3, said that he paid for his transport. I wonder whether, in the interests of accuracy, the Prime Minister could be invited to correct that answer.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe content of an answer is not a matter for the Chair.
§ The Prime MinisterFurther to that point of order. Since I have been challenged, perhaps I may say that what I said quite clearly—it will be in the memory of the House—is that when I use it for private purposes I pay for it.