HC Deb 26 April 1977 vol 930 cc1027-9
Q3. Mr. Blaker

asked the Prime Minister whether he plans to pay an official visit to Cornwall.

Mr. Foot

I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend has at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Blaker

For the benefit of any Liberal voters who may still exist in Cornwall, will the Lord President mention any Socialist legislation which has been dropped as a result of the Labour-Liberal pact?

Mr. Foot

I think, Mr. Speaker, that that is also a pretty broad question. If the hon. Gentleman is to extract a reply on this complicated subject, he will have to put down a more precise Question than that.

Mr. Gwilym Roberts

Does my right hon. Friend accept that if he gives in to the faint cry of Welsh Socialists for devolution he will get another bellow from Cornwall for similar treatment?

Mr. Foot

My hon. Friend is mistaken on that subject. A question was put to me earlier about the Welsh TUC. My hon. Friend should take into account that the Welsh TUC is strongly in favour of devolution. Moreover, he should take into account that every Welsh Labour candidate at the last General Election included devolution in his manifeso, and that is one of the reasons why we secured our majority.

Sir K. Joseph

For the information of any remaining Liberals in Cornwall, will the Leader of the House tell the House, "Yes" or "No", whether in the light of the Liberal pact this Administration has or has not ceased to be a committed Socialist Administration?

Mr. Foot

The Government will continue to bring forward their legislative proposals and present them to the House as we have in the past. We, of course, seek to secure a full majority for those measures. We think that that is a good precaution to take. But the right hon. Gentleman should not be so impatient. We are bringing forward much of this legislation as speedily as we can, but we shall speed it up a bit in order to assist the right hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Penhaligon

I can assure the Leader of the House that there are still some Liberals left in the country. [An HON. MEMBER: "Not many"] The fear of the Conservative Opposition about Cornwall seems to be that the agreement might work. Will the Leader of the House ask the Prime Minister to reconsider the possibility of visiting Cornwall since, despite the Government's efforts, Cornwall now has the highest unemployment of any county in Great Britain?

Mr. Foot

It is certainly the case that the level of unemployment in Cornwall is extremely serious. No one can possibly doubt that. That is one of the reasons why the Government have been seeking to take measures, such as special development agency measures, in order to assist. If he could do so, I am sure that the Prime Minister would be glad to go to Cornwall to visit the Liberals there and the even larger and growing number of Labour supporters.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

Would not the Prime Minister do well to hurry to Cornwall so that he could see how the fishing vessels survey regulations are being enforced there, because I am sure that they are just as unpopular in Grimsby as they are in Cornwall?

Mr. Foot

I know that in his distant past the hon. Gentleman has had a rather good record with regard to the fishery business because he did not fall for all the proposals made by his own party. Some of the present difficulties in the fishing industry might have been avoided had those proposals not been carried out. One of the other good reasons for the Prime Minister hastening to Cornwall is that he would not have to spend too long in the hon. Gentleman's constituency.