HC Deb 30 July 1974 vol 878 cc477-80
Q5. Mr. Nigel Lawson

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech on Government policy at Aberystwyth on 13th July.

Q10. Mr. George Gardiner

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech on Government policies at Aberystwyth on 13th July.

The Prime Minister

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply which I gave on 19th July to the hon. Member for Conway (Mr. Roberts).

Mr. Lawson

In that speech the Prime Minister stressed the need for a united country working together. Does he agree with the Home Secretary that national unity will not be achieved on the basis, favoured by the Labour Left, of "ignoring middle opinion and telling everyone who does not agree with you to go to hell"? In the light of this, will the Prime Minister, in his customary unequivocal manner, tell the House whether he approves or disapproves of his right hon. Friend's speech at Haverfordwest?

The Prime Minister

In my customary unequivocal manner I remind the hon. Gentleman that he was first elected to this Parliament defending not a Britain that was working unitedly but a Britain on a three-day week. As to the anxieties expressed by the hon. Gentleman—

Mrs. Fenner

Yes or No?

The Prime Minister

There are three parts to the supplementary question, and I shall answer the second before the third, as is customary in the House. In so far as the hon. Gentleman referred to matters which he thought were inimical to united working, many things have happened in the last week or two in the private sector that he supports which are extremely inimical to a united country.

In reply to the third part of the supplementary question, while I do not take exception to any words used in that speech I feel that it is part of the whole truth, and I shall be dealing with this in extenso in a speech in this building this evening. [Interruption.] I shall be delighted to arrange for tickets of entry for hon. Gentlemen when they are willing to allow my hon. Friends to address such meetings as the 1922 Committee meeting last Thursday. I shall be glad to send the hon. Gentleman a copy of my speech after it has been made.

Mr. Kinnock

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it comes ill from an Opposition Member to lecture us on policy when in the last three years we have had a Government whose policy existed almost totally of telling many sections of the population to go to hell? Does not my right hon. Friend think that it also comes ill from the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson), who had the dubious distinction of being one of the 23 Conservative Members who repudiated their cowardly leadership by voting last week against a cut in VAT?

The Prime Minister

We do not need a literal transcriptions of what Conservative right hon. Gentleman said in those three years to know that their policies were divisive, that they failed and that they now have no policy at all.

Mr. Gardiner

As the Prime Minister considers the Home Secretary's speech to have covered only part of the whole truth, will he kindly tell the House what he considers the other part to be?

The Prime Minister

I shall be glad to send the hon. Gentleman the full text of what I shall say tonight. It would delay the House for a long time if I were to read out the speech now. The hon. Gentleman can have the pleasure of reading that speech. He has been in the House only a short time, and even Reigate will prove not to be safe with such a Tory candidate.

Mr. Bidwell

Does my right hon. Friend agree that backward employers are extremely reluctant to treat their work-people as human beings, and that the time for worker representation in the higher levels of management in industry is long overdue? Is not that recognised in Labour Party policy, and does not my right hon. Friend agree that there can be no national unity until those facts are realised?

The Prime Minister

If my hon. Friend is referring to proposals for worker participation on boards, that policy is not confined to the Labour Party. It is the policy of several countries in Europe and, indeed, of the European Economic Community. My hon. Friend can feel satisfied that he has widespread support for what he has just said. In reply to the early part of the supplementary question, if my hon. Friend has any particular cases which he would like investigated perhaps he will send details of them to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.

Mr. Peyton

Perhaps the Prime Minister will reflect that remarks such as "even Reigate" are well up to his normal standard and, before he dwells too long on the future in the House of my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Mr. Gardiner), which I am sure will be a long one, think about his own past and the fact that during the time when he wielded enormous influence as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition this country's standing in the world and its standards deteriorated.

The Prime Minister

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said. I did not even refer to Yeovil. The deterioration of standards—economic, social and many others—was greeted by the results of the General Election this year. In the spirit of the eve-of-recess bonhomie which inspires the whole House, I would say to the right hon. Gentleman in relation to his reference to standards that the standard of the Conservative Front Bench would be better if he were still there.