HC Deb 20 January 1976 vol 903 cc1127-30
Q1. Mr. Tebbit

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of his public speech, made in London on 10th December, concerning the need to put industrial and economic growth before expenditure on the social services.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)

I did so, Sir, on 11th December.

Mr. Tebbit

Does the right hon. Gentleman remember that in that speech he waxed lyrical about priority being given to enable everyone to have "a full share in society"? What is the full share that he has given, under his Socialist Government, to the extra 800,000 people who have been put out of work since he became Prime Minister?

The Prime Minister

I understand that my right hon. and hon. Friends have been answering questions on this matter for the last 45 minutes. Apart, of course, from factors like the 127,000 students, the whole House will regard the figures, as I do, as extremely grave and serious. They will recognise, as the whole world does, that this is happening in every advanced industrial country—as was said in the conference that I attended yesterday with my right hon. Friend. They will know that the steps that we are taking are the right ones to deal with this problem and that what is now happening began under the previous Government, before we came into office.

Mr. Atkinson

Does my right hon. Friend not understand that there is a feeling of deep sadness, much misgiving and a great deal of disillusionment, certainly on the Government side of the House, after hearing these very serious unemployment figures, since many of us believe that the Socialist case is going by default and that the arguments used in the Cabinet support those in the IMF, the finance houses and the Common Market who are denying this Government the opportunity of not only rebuilding our capital equipment but making resources available for restocking—which would go a long way to providing the necessary jobs that we are now talking about? Will he give an assurance that the Cabinet will give serious thought to the whole of the Socialist case for reflating the economy while doing nothing to damage the Government's policy for reducing inflation?

The Prime Minister

My hon. Friend's question does not arise, any more than did the previous one, from the speech referred to.

Mr. Tebbit

My question does.

The Prime Minister

That speech dealt with what this Government have done in the way of tremendous increases in the social services and the priorities that must be followed. I agree with my hon. Friend's reference to the sadness and determination that must be the reaction of all of us to figures that are hitting this country and every other advanced industrial country. I had the figures from the Chancellor of Germany and others yesterday. I do not agree with all that my hon. Friend said about his solution. It is the priority of this Government to increase investment and to resist pressure from the Tory Party for ill-considered expenditure cuts at this time, since they would greatly increase unemployment.

Mrs. Thatcher

Is the Prime Minister aware that we agree that today's unemployment figures are staggeringly and unexpectedly high? Is he further aware that those figures are due to the failure of his Government to handle the nation's economic affairs and, particularly, to tackle the problem of inflation early enough? Judged by performance, which is the only test by which to judge any Government, the Labour Party has now become the natural party of unemployment.

The Prime Minister

I totally reject what the right hon. Lady has said. Inflation has been a world-wide phenomenon and its consequence has caused the biggest world-wide recession in the memory of most of us. It has hit every country in the world. If I had listened for one minute to the right hon. Lady's prescription about slashing cuts in the social services there would have been half a million more unemployed.

Mrs. Thatcher

Is the Prime Minister aware that there are no alibis now? He is the head of a Government whose policies have resulted in the highest un- employment figures since the war. If he is not responsible, will he please sack whoever is?

The Prime Minister

I did, in the General Election of March 1974—with the help of a few million votes. The right hon. Lady, who dissociates only after she leaves a Government, knows that the expansion caused by the previous Conservative Government's vast inflation and printing of money had already come to an end in the spring of 1973—before oil price increases—and that we were already heading into slump when they went out of office, before the effect of those increases began to be felt.