CBI (Hansard, 15 December 1977)

§ Q1. Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Prime Minister when he last met the CBI.

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. James Callaghan)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) on 10th November.

§ Mr. Latham
Is it not an interesting example of the social contract and "Back to Work with Labour" that the Secretary of State for Transport has apparently been urging a CBI member, the Road Haulage Association, to set up a defence fund to resist a possible strike by Jack Jones's union? Is that the Labour Party's new industrial relations policy?

§ The Prime Minister
When I last met the CBI and talked to the President, he made quite clear that the CBI believes that everything depends upon beating inflation. That is what the actions of my right hon. Friend are directed to.

§ Mr. Grocott
Will my right hon. Friend take the opportunity today to discuss with anyone interested in industrial relations the persistent evidence of this century that the higher echelons of the judiciary are anti-Labour and antiunion? Does he agree that until the judiciary comes less from a privileged and wealthy elite and becomes more representative of the public that prejudice will continue?

§ The Prime Minister
I did not discuss that matter with the CBI and have no intention of doing so. It does not arise out of the Question. If there is any comment to be made about the judiciary, the normal course is to put it on the Order Paper. That is the procedure which I should recommend in such cases. But I also recommend to the House that we should beware of trying to embroil the judiciary in our affairs, with the corresponding caveat that the judiciary should be very careful about embroiling itself in the Legislature.

§ Mrs. Thatcher
May I refer back to the Prime Minister's answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Melton (Mr. Latham)? Is he really saying that it is the Government's new policy to encourage solidarity among employers, as a means of fighting off wage claims by trade unions?

§ The. Prime Minister
I encourage solidarity among everybody in the country, because I believe that national effort and common understanding are the best ways in which we can ensure that the scourge of inflation does not return. I wish that the right hon. Lady, now and again, would show a little more understanding.

§ Mrs. Thatcher
So the answer to my question is "Yes".