PRIME MINISTER (ENGAGEMENTS) (Hansard, 14 June 1977)

§ Ql. Mr. Canavan
asked the Prime Minister whether he will list his public engagements for 14th June.

§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Michael Foot)
In the absence of my right hon. Friend, who is engaged with the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, I have been asked to reply.
Today my right hon. Friend will be presiding at both the morning and afternoon business sessions of the meeting. In addition, he was the guest of the Foreign Press Association at lunch.

§ Mr. Canavan
Will my right hon. Friend tell the Prime Minister that many of us are pleased to hear of the efforts of the Commonwealth leaders to discourage sporting contacts with South Africa, a country where the exploitation of coloured workers is accompanied by police brutality and oppression? But would not this gesture have more meaning if the Prime Minister were to tackle the problems in our midst by holding a top-level inquiry into recent incidents at the Grunwick factory?

§ Mr. Foot
I am sure that the whole House will be glad that an agreement has been reached between Commonwealth leaders over their sporting links with South Africa so as to allow next year's Commonwealth Games in Canada to take place. I am sure that that should be welcomed by everyone, both in the interests of the attack on racialism and in the interests of sport.
As for my hon. Friend's second question, I understand the concern that he has expressed and the concern expressed by many of my hon. Friends yesterday. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department has called for an urgent report on the issue, and I think we must await that.

§ Mr. Watt
I recognise that the Prime Minister has a very full schedule, but does the right hon. Gentleman recognise that he and his Government colleagues have already disappointed very many 221 members of the fishing industry who have been giving a demonstration today in the Pool of London and in other parts of the Thames in support of the demand for a 50-mile limit? Does he agree that the best way in which the Government can help our fishing industry is to come out of the Common Market, taking the whole of our 200 miles with us and using the outer 150 miles as a bargaining zone for trading off with the members of Europe?

§ Mr. Foot
As the hon. Gentleman and the House knows, many agreements were made before the Government came into office. What has happened recently is that my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been doing everything in his power, within the limitations to which I have referred, to defend the position of British fishing. My right hon. Friend will continue to do so.

§ Mr. Thorpe
If the Prime Minister is attending a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party today, does that count as a public or private engagement? If it is correct that he is attending the meeting, no doubt he will be referring to Europe and elections to the European Assembly. Are proposals contained in the Queen's Speech always to be taken as intended Government policy and collectively to be backed by Cabinet colleagues? Is it not right that had there been fundamental disagreement with the proposals when they were introduced we might have expected resignations from this Administration?

§ Mr. Foot
I am sorry, but I cannot anticipate the statement that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will make at the meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party this evening. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman does not feel too disgruntled that he will not be there, but that is the situation. On the general question that he has raised, of course I understand the interest in this subject in all parts of the House. As I said before the recess, a communication will be made to the House about the matter this week, and, of course, that will be carried out.

§ Mr. Heffer
During the busy day that both my right hon. Friend and the Prime Minister are having, will they have time to look at the experiences of Norway, Sweden and Austria, none of which is in 222 the Common Market but all of which have a lower rate of unemployment than any Common Market country? Does my right hon. Friend think that the policy or policies which they are pursuing could be produced by this country outside the Common Market?

§ Mr. Foot
I understand my hon. Friend's point. Another feature of those three countries, of course, is that they have all had good Socialist Governments; that all assists. In many respects they have been following our example and we have been following theirs. That is a very good interchange. One thing that we must always be determined on in all those countries is to keep out any other incursion by Right-wing parties.

§ Mr. Pym
Despite the right hon. Gentleman's reply to the right hon. Member for Devon, North (Mr. Thorpe), will he confirm that the use of the Government's "best endeavours" to pass a Bill providing for European elections includes the responsibility of each and every Minister to vote positively in favour of the Government's own legislation?

§ Mr. Foot
I remember very well that the right hon. Gentleman was a member of an Administration which arranged for a free vote, I think, on a question concerned with a major item of policy affecting the Common Market and that that announcement was not made until just prior to the debate itself. I must therefore ask the right hon. Gentleman to wait in patience for the answer to his question at a later time.