§ Q6. Mr. Radiceasked the Prime Minister if he will appoint an extra economic adviser to the CPRS.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Mr. RadiceDoes my right hon. Friend accept that we on this side fully support the Government's decision not to cut public expenditure this year? I agree that there is a strong case for checking the growth in public expenditure in future years, but will my right hon. Friend ensure that there are no cuts across the board, and that any policy of cutting is carried out according to the top priorities of Labour's programme?
§ The Prime MinisterIt must be on the basis of priorities. I have explained to the House that successive Governments examine expenditure over a five-year period. I have already made it clear that the expenditure programmes for this year have been settled. Indeed, in his Budget Statement, my right hon. Friend also indicated certain significant reductions—£900 million—in the earlier projections for this year.
§ Mr. RidleyWill the Prime Minister give an undertaking that in the new national plan, if one may call it that, evolved at Chequers, the extra costs of any aid to industry will be met by compensating cuts in the social programmes, in order to contain public expenditure?
§ The Prime MinisterI have answered this in what I have just said. We are examining the forward programme of expenditure. What was agreed at Chequers was not a detailed national plan; it was an approach to a national strategy, which got a wide response in the CBI and the TUC. We are continually under pressure from both sides of the House in the matter of employment in particular areas. Obviously, any cuts which are required there—whether more or less than existing plans—will have to be made within a total limited programme, and that is the Government's job to decide.