§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. I hope to do so on Tuesday 17th June.
§ Mr. HoramNow that the NEDC is clearly recovering from the battering that it received from the last administration, does my right hon. Friend agree that it has a clear rôle in central planning and the encouraging of more open debate between the Government and both sides of industry? Will he therefore encourage it to play a more dynamic and decision-oriented rôle?
§ The Prime MinisterI have this afternoon criticised the previous administration 1214 for battering certain institutions, for example the Commonwealth, but I have no evidence that NEDC received a battering from the previous administration. Since NEDC was originated by the then Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer—yourself, Mr. Speaker—it has continued to progress. The significant developments in NEDC recently have been the serious study being given on a tripartite basis to the problems of industrial investment, the problems of nationalised industry investment programmes and now, increasingly, the tripartite examination of economic questions. In a recent television broadcast, which so delighted Opposition Members, I proposed further consultations in relation to the growth of product, incomes and expenditure and public expenditure. This work has been made easier by what has been done by NEDC over the past few months.
§ Mr. BakerWhen he takes the chair at NEDC, will the Prime Minister ask it to discuss the industrial production figures for March of this year? If he considers those figures he will find that the output of British factories in March this year reached only the level it reached in the three-day working week. To what particular aspect of his stewardship of the nation's affairs does the Prime Minister attribute this startling recovery?
§ The Prime MinisterNEDC does not approach these problems from the political attitude of the hon. Gentleman. It is much more constructive. The hon. Gentleman will have noticed—NEDC is certainly aware, and the figures will be deployed in the next two or three days--that it is now clear that during the serious world depression in a number of countries the fall in production from the peak of last year ranges from 20 per cent. in Japan to 4 per cent. in Britain and that, at a time of world recession comparable with the 1930s, the fall in production in Britain under the Labour Government is lower than it is in any other OECD country.
§ Mr. Roy HughesWill my right hon. Friend comment on today's report alleging that Sir Monty Finniston's statement calling for over 20,000 redundancies in the steel industry was part of a preconceived plan to shop the trade unions? Bearing in mind the despondency that this has 1215 caused throughout the industry and in whole communities, particularly in Wales, does not the Prime Minister deprecate that sort of statement?
§ The Prime MinisterIn answering Questions it is a tradition that there is no ministerial responsibility for nonsense appearing in the Press from time to time. I should have a full-time job in the House if I had to deal with all the nonsense that appears in the Press, including some comments which appeared this morning. For example, it was said that I shall speak in the debate on Thursday only because the reluctant debutante the Leader of the Opposition has finally agreed to speak. My right hon. Friend the Chief Whip will be aware that I told him to make no deal with the Opposition that would prevent me from speaking, whatever the right hon. Lady might finally decide to do.
§ Mr. PriorIn view of the dithering by Ministers this morning in Committee, will the Prime Minister make a clear statement that the Government will support—as many of his hon. Friends and the Opposition wish—the release of funds for trade unions which wish to hold union ballots by post? Will he give a firm undertaking that that is the Government's policy?
§ The Prime MinisterI have had no report from the Committee this morning. There has been no report to the House, but I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for bringing it to my attention. I certainly support postal ballots in these matters. We shall consider any suggestions made by the Committee or coming from any other source as to how that procedure can be facilitated.
§ Mr. PardoeIs the Prime Minister aware of the suggestion by the Director General of NEDC that stability of investment could be attained by bringing representatives of Opposition parties into NEDC? Does he accept the view of his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection that this procedure would help, and is he aware that it is a splendid suggestion provided that, like Mr. Scanlon, the representative of the Liberal Party holds the balance of power?
§ The Prime MinisterThe Liberal Party can give its views to NEDC by postal 1216 ballot arrangements. The remark that the hon. Gentleman attributes to my right hon. Friend is not correct. That was not what she said. There will always be time to consider whether the two major Opposition parties have anything to contribute to NEDC when we get the faintest glimmering from them of what is their economic policy.
§ Mr. HordernWhen the Prime Minister takes the chair at NEDC, will he take the opportunity to repudiate the proposals of the Secretary of State for Industry compulsorily to channel the savings of institutions into industry? Will he also take the opportunity to say that we as a country are living far beyond our means, and state what proposals he has to reduce public expenditure?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. We are to debate these matters in the House on Thursday, as I suggested last week. At least we are making quite sure that there will be adequate representation on the Opposition Front Bench in the debate. I hope that we shall hear on that occasion the Opposition's proposals about what areas of public expenditure they would cut. These matters can always be discussed in NEDC, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that when I chair the next meeting I shall discuss a fairly wide range of problems of macro-economics and also problems raised in relation to my right hon. Friend.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned the funds of institutions. That suggestion has not been put forward on behalf of the Government, nor has it been put forward by my right hon. Friend. It is an idea that has been floated by a sub-committee of a sub-committee of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. I have made clear that it is not Government policy.
§ Mr. SpeakerIn spite of the Prime Minister's courteous reference to a former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, I do not intend to ask a supplementary question.