TUC AND CBI (Hansard, 31 July 1975)

§ Q6. Mr. Skinner
asked the Prime Minister when he next plans to meet the TUC and the CBI.

§ Mr. Edward Short
I have been asked to reply.
As my right hon. Friend has told the House, there have been and will continue to be extensive discussions between the Government, TUC and CBI on the proposals contained in the White Paper "The Attack on Inflation" (Cmnd. 6151).

§ Mr. Skinner
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best proposition that could be put forward at the forthcoming meeting with the TUC, and perhaps to a lesser extent at the meeting with the CBI, is that, arising out of our recent debates on the new economic policy and, bearing in mind all the legal difficulties in relation to conspiracy matters and injunctions, the Government should drop any intention they may have of introducing, in any form, reserve powers of the kind that have been loosely described by Government spokesmen?

§ Mr. Short
What has emerged from the long but excellent debates we have had is the massive amount of support for the Government's policy in the House and in the country. There is no intention to introduce the reserve powers unless we are forced to do so. If we are forced to do so, we shall introduce them.

§ Mr. Norman Lamont
If the Prime Minister does meet the TUC will he explain to it precisely why the Socialist Government felt it necessary to raise the Bank Rate by a full 1 per cent. on the day after the announcement that there were 1 million unemployed? Is it because the Government's conversion to monetarism is complete, or because the Government's control of public expenditure is still non-existent, that the Government have ended up where all Socialist Governments end up, by being completely in pawn to foreign bankers?

§ Mr. Short
I think the hon. Gentleman understands as well as I do the reason for that increase.

§ Mrs. Bain
Will the Leader of the House accept that many of us are pleased that the Prime Minister finds it worth while to have discussions with the TUC and CBI? Will the right hon. Gentleman guarantee that the next time the Scottish Trades Union Congress asks for a meeting with the Prime Minister it will not be with the Secretary of State for Scotland or the Secretary of State for Energy, particularly when the STUC wants to discuss the economic and unemployment situation in Scotland?

§ Mr. Short
I do not know whether the hon. Lady is trying to appear as a great champion of the STUC. The Prime Minister and I, and several colleagues, some time ago spent a whole weekend in Glasgow, discussing all kinds of matters with the STUC, and we intend to do so again later this year.

§ Mr. McElhone
It ill becomes the hon. Lady—a member of the Scottish National Party—to be concerned about the STUC. Is my right hon. Friend aware that the STUC is on record as saying that the Scottish National Party has no relevance to the working people of Scotland?