HC Deb 03 July 1975 vol 894 cc1668-70
Q2. Mr. Cartwright

asked the Prime Minister when he will next attend a meeting of EEC Heads of Government.

The Prime Minister

The week after next, Sir.

Mr. Cartwright

In view of this week's comment by the Belgian Prime Minister, Mr. Tindemans, which defines the British attitude towards European union to be very positive, will my right hon. Friend make clear in his discussions with EEC Heads of Government that he will not accept any programme for integration which leads inexorably to economic and monetary union?

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir. We made that clear to Mr. Tindemans and at the summit conference in Paris. In addition, after the discussions which my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and I had with Mr. Tindemans when he came to No. 10 the other evening, I made a statement, part of which has been issued. If I were to publish that statement in the Official Report or in some other appropriate way, my hon. Friend would be reassured on these matters.

Mr. Dykes

Is it not time that the Prime Minister and his colleagues dropped their timid reservations about direct elections to the European Parliament and entered into wider discussions with EEC Heads of Government about this important move in Europe?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that following the referendum, as I announced the following Monday, we proposed that my hon. Friends should take their places in the European Assembly. It is premature for any of us to consider the question of a change in the form of elections. It raises many questions. I know that views have been expressed, but I am not sure whether it is even the policy of the official Opposition to support direct elections. We all need much more time to think about this question.

Mr. Kinnock

When my right hon. Friend meets European Heads of Government will he draw on their experience of incomes policies and acknowledge that while there is almost universal support for incomes policies, those policies which require the force of law to turn bosses into pay police are the surest formula yet devised for industrial chaos and disaster?

The Prime Minister

I cannot agree with my hon. Friend's account of what was said by my right hon. Friend on Tuesday. As I have said in the House on many occasions at Question Time, I believe that criminal sanctions against workers would be an extremely ineffective and dangerous way to deal with these problems. We certainly have been considering—as has the whole House—the experience of other countries, and looking at the different methods they have used. I am sure that the whole House would like to see us getting down, after all these years, to something like the rate of inflation of some of our European partners.

Mrs. Thatcher

Is the Prime Minister aware that one of the questions that most concern the European Heads of Government is whether the British Government have the will and determination to beat inflation? Will he, therefore, assure the House that whatever form of wage restraint he adopts, whether cash limits or compulsion, if he is faced with an excessive claim by the powerful unions in the nationalised industries, his Government will stick to the new limits and not be blown off course?

The Prime Minister

My right hon. Friend has made clear in relation to incomes—he did not refer to wages only, as did the right hon. Lady—what will be our policy, and we shall stick to it. He made clear, although it caused a lot of silly tittering from Opposition Members, that, in relation to the public sector, the Government have a very large range of weapons capable of use to ensure that any temptation to excessive incomes settlements does not lead to subsidies, borrowing or loading the charges on the public. The right hon. Lady will no doubt study what my right hon. Friend said about the private sector and will in due course say whether she agrees with his statement.