Social Contract (Hansard, 1 July 1975)

4. Mr. R. C. Mitchell
asked the Secretary of State for Employment what further discussions he has had with the TUC regarding the implementation of the social contract; and if he will make a statement.

§ The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Michael Foot)
The Government have been in close consultation with the TUC in their review of the social contract and we shall be having further urgent discussions with it. I refer my hon. Friend to the statement to be made later this afternoon by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

§ Mr. Lane
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the guidelines of the social contract must be drastically tightened?

§ Mr. Foot
It would be very much better that the hon. Member should await the statement which the Chancellor is to make.

§ Mr. Prior
This is the first intimation we have had that any statement is being made by the Chancellor. Why was this important statement not shown on the notice board in the ordinary way so that hon. Members could be kept fully informed of what was happening?

§ Mr. Tebbit
It is a secret statement.

§ Mr. Prior
Can we take it that the pathetic faith in the social contract, which the Secretary of State has always shown and which has brought this country to the edge of disaster, will not now be followed by a further pathetic attempt by the Government to patch up something we have known could never possibly exist?

§ Mr. Foot
The right hon. Gentleman might save his feeble fire for the Chancellor. If there has been any mistake concerning notification of the statement by the Chancellor, of course that will be looked at, but I understood that the announcement had already been made clear.

§ 19. Mr. Adley
asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he remains satisfied with the social contract as the main 1168 feature of the Government's policy to maintain full employment.

§ 24. Mr. Trotter
asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he is satisfied with the operation of the social contract in maintaining employment.

§ 41. Mr. Ashley
asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied with the operation of the social contract in maintaining full employment; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Foot
As I have emphasised in reply to previous Questions today, I am certainly not satisfied in any sense whatever with the current level of employment, but a reversal of the present deplorable trend can be achieved only by intelligent policies agreed between the Government and the trade unions to combat inflation.

§ Mr. Adley
Has not the right hon. Gentleman noticed that his Government's reliance on the social contract means that we have rising inflation, rising unemployment, a falling pound and falling confidence nationally and internationally? Is not the social contract merely an excuse by which the Government avoid taking difficult decisions? Will the right hon. Gentleman stop expecting people like Jack Jones to play Prime Minister and ask his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and his colleagues to start trying to run the country properly?

§ Mr. Foot
As I explained to the House —I thought that most right hon. and hon. Members accepted it or understood it—the social contract covers a whole range of policies which were agreed between the Government and the trade union movement, including arrangements about how pay settlements should be made. We intend that the whole of the social contract shall be carried into operation. The idea that it is concerned solely with wages is a complete misapprehension. I believe that the understanding of the social contract still points to the way in which we can overcome our problems.