§ Q1. Mr. Hoyleasked the Prime Minister what engagements he has undertaken as part of the referendum campaign.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)I have already made a number of speeches in the country commending support for the Government's recommendation to continue Britain's membership of the European Community and I shall be undertaking further speeches of this kind before 5th June.
§ Mr. HoyleWill the Prime Minister consider cancelling those future engagements so that he will be in a more neutral 1609 position to carry out the wishes of the British people when they vote to come out of the Common Market?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his consideration, but the Government made a very clear recommendation in the House, and I am doing the same in the country.
§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonAs a contribution to the referendum campaign, will the Prime Minister consider republishing and circulating widely his "Won't take 'No' for an answer" speech?
§ The Prime MinisterI should be happy to do so, Sir. I used that phrase in 1967 when General de Gaulle announced his veto on negotiations, to make clear that we would not take "No" for an answer but would press until we obtained negotiations. Negotiations were ultimately agreed to and carried out by the Conservatives when in government. We have renegotiated the terms, and what I said in 1967 has been abundantly justified by what has happened since.
§ Mr. SpeakerMr. Skinner.
§ Mr. SkinnerThey tell me that Nelson was against the Common Market as well. When my right hon. Friend makes speeches explaining why we should stay in the Common Market, will he please refrain from using the truth-bending remarks that have been made by some of his colleagues? It has been said that one reason for Britain to stay in is to control multinationals. How farcical is such a remark, taken in the context of the multinationals pouring thousands of pounds into the "Keep Britain in Europe" campaign.
§ The Prime MinisterI sympathise with my hon. Friend on his affliction and express the hope that on this issue he will now see more clearly through one eye than he sometimes does through two. [An HON. MEMBER: "In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king."] I am trying to be sympathetic to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. SkinnerI am only suffering from your complaint.
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend used the emotive phrase "truth-bending remarks". I find that all those who feel strongly on one side of the Common Market case, whichever it is, regard a statement made by the other side as truth-bending. The country will decide when it has heard the full arguments.
§ Mrs. ThatcherDoes the Prime Minister recollect that when I asked him on Tuesday about the assertion of the Secretary of State for Industry that 500,000 jobs had been lost through the European link he rejected the figure? Will he now reject the underlying contention that the link has led to any loss of jobs, bearing in mind that most companies take the contrary view?
§ The Prime MinisterThis is a matter which is much argued. I do not agree with what my right hon. Friend said. As I made clear, no one can say that no jobs have been lost. Some have been lost. Equally, jobs have been gained as a result of a change in the movement of trade—[Interruption.] I am treating the right hon. Lady's question as serious, unlike some hon. Members sitting behind her. Inevitably, when a market is opened more freely to imports—by the removal of tariffs, or in other ways—there will be more goods coming in, which may throw British people out of work. Equally, because those markets are open to us there will be more jobs at home in Britain. I have no reason to think that the net result has been an increase in unemployment.