§ Q2. Mr. Townsendasked the Prime Minister when he next intends to meet his opposite numbers in the European Community.
§ The Prime MinisterAt the European Council in Luxembourg on 1st and 2nd April, Sir.
§ Mr. TownsendWill the Prime Minister try to persuade his opposite numbers to provide a crash aid programme to such African countries as Zaire and Zambia, which rightly feel threatened by the 20 per cent. of the Cuban Army which Soviet imperialism has let loose on the African continent?
§ The Prime MinisterI replied to this question on Tuesday, and refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave. I have said—and the Common Market is very receptive to the suggestion—that we should do more to help Third World countries generally, on the lines of our Jamaican initiative.
§ Mr. FernyhoughWhen my right hon. Friend next meets his opposite numbers in the EEC, will be remind them that before we joined the Community our trade deficit with it was about £500 million, and that last year it had grown to a staggering £2,500 million? Is that not a complete contradiction of what we were told would happen if we joined, and will my right hon. Friend ask the other members of the the EEC what they are prepared to do to help us narrow this trade gap?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend will be aware of some very significant changes in the margin in the last few months. Our exports have increased considerably there and elsewhere, and the balance of payments deficit has been more than halved in the past year or two and is now, in total—which is what counts—less than half the rate it was when we took office, even though that was before the oil price increases really hit this country.
§ Mr. Maurice MacmillanWill the Prime Minister be a little more specific in what he said about dealing with the problems created by Soviet action in Angola and ensure that there is a concerted approach to this problem politically, economically and in defence terms, by the countries of the EEC? Perhaps the Prime Minister will be good enough to answer my question himself and not refer it to my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition.
§ The Prime MinisterWe have never yet had an answer from the right hon. Lady. The right hon. Gentleman has raised an important point. He will be aware of the Government's disappointment that our efforts to secure a common Community approach to this matter of recognition were not successful because certain countries wanted to go off—if I may use a diplomatic phrase—at half cock. As regard the right hon. Gentleman's approach to defence expenditure 1485 in these matters, I refer him to my answer to the Leader of the Opposition on Tuesday. The Americans decided by a vote of Congress that they would not intervene in Angola, and I hope that no one is suggesting that we should have made a military intervention when the Americans did not.
§ Q3. Mr. Blakerasked the Prime Minister whether the public speech by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in Anglesey on 23rd January about economic policy represents Government policy.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Christchurch and Lymington (Mr. Adley), Sir.
§ Mr. BlakerIs the Prime Minister under a misapprehension? Will he bear in mind that this is Prime Minister's Question Time and, now that he has had time to think it over, answer the question put by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition?
§ The Prime MinisterI answered the right hon. Lady's question. If, as a member of the syndicate, the hon. Member keeps putting down Questions that occupy the time of the House, he might at least think out his own supplementary questions to justify them.
§ Mr. AtkinsonOn the question of the cuts advocated by the Opposition, does my right hon. Friend not think it would be a good idea if he employed the secret agent who uses the code name "Red Chiffon"? Could she not tell us that if the railways carried as many passengers as the Opposition Front Bench, they could do without a subsidy?
§ The Prime MinisterI disclaim any connection, direct or indirect, with "Red Chiffon". As far as the quality of the Opposition Front Bench is concerned, it speaks for itself.
§ Mr. HoosonWill the Prime Minister say how the Government intend to deal not with the increase in public expenditure but wall the enormous increase in the National Debt? Is it not true that this has risen enormously? Will the right hon. Gentleman disclose what the increase has been on the interest payable on the National Debt in the past year?
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. and learned Member to the White Paper that is about to be published. The figure is there. The ludicrous expansion engaged in by the Opposition in 1972, which, as all impartial hon. Members on both sides and the City recognise, practically ruined the City and the economy, resulted in very big increases in interest rates. In regard to next financial year, whatever the Opposition say, we are not cutting Government expenditure and thereby increasing unemployment this year.
§ Q5. Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech on the economy on 2nd February to the Overseas Bankers Club in London.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Mid-Sussex (Mr. Renton) on 17th February, Sir.
§ Mrs. EwingShould the Prime Minister have been so optimistic in using phrases like "We are winning through", against a background of more than 7 per cent. unemployment in Scotland? Why did he tell such august people that no major industrialised country could opt out of the world recession—and blame unemployment on that recession—when we know that unemployment in Sweden is only 2 per cent., in Norway 1 per cent., and in Austria 2 per cent.?
§ The Prime MinisterWorld inflation is caused partly by domestic inflation in individual countries, including Britain, and partly by oil and commodity prices. The unemployment which followed has been common to almost every country in the world. I did not take an excessively optimistic view in that speech. I said that some of the signs of confidence in industry were now becoming clear, as was indicated by the Financial Times survey, which was the best since the spring of 1973, the CBI survey, which was also the best since mid-1973 and the West Midlands survey, to which I referred in a speech in Birmingham. I can only express my sympathy with the Opposition Front Bench that some of these things are beginning to improve.
§ Mr. CanavanI appreciate the references in my right hon. Friend's speech 1487 to the reduction in the rate of inflation, but does he not agree that it is completely unacceptable to working people in Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom, and completely contrary to Labour Party policy, that we should tolerate for much longer a situation in which prices are going up at a faster rate than wages? What is my right hon. Friend going to do about it?
§ The Prime MinisterI have referred to the causes of world inflation and the inflation of this country under successive governments—as I am more ready to admit than are the Opposition. The fact remains that the attack on inflation announced by the Government last year and supported by the House—although the Opposition abstained—is widely accepted by the whole country. We have warned throughout that there would be a period when living standards would inevitably be held without increasing—or even be reduced. We were prepared to face that, and the whole country backed us.
§ Mr. AdleyOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of your campaign to try to limit the length of questions and answers, may I ask whether you will be prepared to review the position, bearing in mind the Prime Minister's pathetic inability to answer any questions at all——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It was clear from the beginning that that was not a point of order. Scoring points is not a legitimate ground for raising points of order.