HC Deb 15 March 1977 vol 928 cc214-6
Q4. Mr. Charles Morrison

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 15th March 1977.

Q8. Mr. Gow

asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 15th March 1977.

The Prime Minister

This morning I took the chair at a meeting of the Cabinet. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be holding further meetings with ministerial colleagues and others.

Mr. Morrison

In the light of the unfortunate fall in the volume in visible exports last month, does the Prime Minister agree that much of the credit for last month's surpluses should go to the City of London? Will he take time off to draw that to the attention of his hon. Friends below the Gangway and suggest to them that they should stop sniping at the City as they did last week, because by so doing they are sapping the morale of one of our best exporters?

The Prime Minister

The fall-off in the volume of exports last month was to some extent due to the position in the car industry. [Interruption.] The trade unions have done a remarkable job in this very serious matter. The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions has issued a statement today. It is something that has never happened in our industrial history. It has agreed with British Leyland that if, when the workshops are reopened on Monday, the toolmakers do not get back to work they will have discharged themselves. That is unprecedented. Mr. Scanlon and other trade union leaders deserve the full support of the Opposition and everyone else.

As for the Government's attitude, we of course support the joint statement that has been made by British Leyland and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions. I am bound to point out, in this very serious situation, that what has happened so far means that the Government will have to review the future of British Leyland in the light of the way in which the situation develops. Whatever happens now, a review of British Leyland's plans will be needed. How drastic it will be will depend upon the speed which the men return to work.

Mr. Gow

Does the Prime Minister recall that in the Chancellor's letter to the Managing Director of the IMF, of 15th December last, he stated that the twin pillars of the Government's strategy were the social contract and the industrial strategy? When, later today, the Prime Minister is preparing his party political broadcasts in advance of the by-election at Stechford, will he take the opportunity of explaining why, it is that those two pillars are pillars of straw?

Mr. Bryan Davies

As my right hon. Friend's engagements for the remainder of the day seem fairly mundane, would he care to switch his list with mine and take the opportunity, this evening, of meeting the Lord Mayor of London near the Tower and perhaps conveying to that gentleman the advantages of holding one's office on the basis of direct election by the people rather than on the basis of a property qualification and a very restricted franchise?

The Prime Minister

I understand that the question of direct elections is a vexed one and that principles can be applied differently in different places. However, certainly in the City of London I understand that elections are not regarded as being necessarily less valuable because they are not wholly direct, or because they cover a large number of people. I have read my hon. Friend's recent speech. I thought that it was a very good one. However, the City of London contributes a very great deal financially to other London boroughs over the financial year.

Mr. Donald Stewart

Does the Prime Minister accept that among the services provided to the Government by the trade unions was the selling of the social contract to their members? The appalling rise in food prices has shown that the implied assurances that prices would be kept down have entirely failed. Therefore, there is not the slightest justification for asking the unions to accept a further phase of the pay freeze.

The Prime Minister

This is a very hard case to answer. While it is in the nation's interests that once again we should have another wage round and a wage settlement—the Opposition will take their own view—the truth is that sterling declined in value last autumn and, as a result, and because of the drought last year, food prices and the prices of commodities have risen very much. We are now beginning to see the end of that. As I said to the House previously, this will, I think, work its way through by mid-year, according to our forecasts. After that, because of the recovery in sterling and because of the measures that the Chancellor took, we expect the rate of inflation to diminish rapidly and substantially. If that is so, if we can get another wage round it will be well worth people's while to stick to that rather than have a free-for-all and see inflation go roaring away once again.

We have a real chance in the next 12 months, and I intend to fight as hard as I can—whether it be the Opposition or anyone else—in order to try to get this country through.