HC Deb 06 July 1978 vol 953 cc650-2
Q1. Mr. Stoddart

asked the Prime Minister when he will next meet the TUC and CBI.

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 attending a meeting of the European Council in Bremen, I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend met representatives of the TUC and CBI when he took the chair at a meeting of the National Economic Development Council on 1st February. Further meetings will be arranged as necessary.

Mr. Stoddart

When the Prime Minister next meets the TUC and the CBI, will he give them a copy of the report in The Guardian this morning, which tells of a letter sent by a redundant Tory agent to the Sheffield Morning Telegraph, describing the present Tory leadership as the most disastrous he could remember, devoid of any constructive policies … and having done nothing to assist in the economic recovery of the nation"?

Mr. Speaker

Order. Hon. Members must address their supplementary questions to subjects for which the Minister is responsible. He is not responsible for what the Opposition do.

Mr. Stoddart

I perfectly well understand that, Mr. Speaker. I am suggesting that when the Prime Minister meets the TUC and the CBI he should bring these matters to the attention of those bodies. I conclude by saying [HON. MEMBERS: "Too long."]—that the Prime Minister is described—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I cannot even hear the hon. Gentleman from here. But I think that the Lord President has heard enough.

Mr. Foot

I should be glad to send on the report, as my hon. Friend has suggested, to the bodies he has mentioned. I must say that I think that the comment quoted went a little far. After all, the gentleman concerned said that this was the most disastrous Conservative leadership that he had ever known. I think that that embraces Neville Chamberlain as well as all subsequent leaders. I should have thought that that was going a bit far.

Mr. Whitelaw

May I raise a matter which is important for the country and for which the right hon. Gentleman is responsible, as is his right hon. Friend? Will the Prime Minister when he nexts meets the CBI and the TUC, be in a position to tell them what the Government intend to do about dividends, because the Government are running out of time on this crucial issue?

Mr. Foot

There will be discussions in the next week or two on these matters. I have no doubt that dividends will be one of the subjects which will arise in those discussions.

Mr. Whitelaw

Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House before we rise?

Mr. Foot

I do not have anything to add to what I have already said to the right hon. Gentleman and the rest of the House on the subject.

Mr. McNamara

Before he nexts meets the TUC, will the Prime Minister have an opportunity to examine the Government's role as an employer, to look in particular at the role of industrial civil servants and the wages they receive, to compare them with some of the increases that were announced earlier this week and to do something about the lower paid?

Mr. Foot

I appreciate that there is strong feeling among industrial civil servants. This has been expressed in the discussions and negotiations which have gone on. I have no doubt that that will be taken into account by the Government. I have no doubt that my hon. Friend is calling attention to those representations, which are very much in our minds at the moment.

Mr. Michael Latham

Could the Lord President have another attempt at answering the supplementary question asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Whitelaw) a moment ago? Is it not absolutely plain from the Prime Minister's speech last weekend that the Government have now decided to impose a stage 4, irrespective of what the unions want to do?

Mr. Foot

The hon. Gentleman is jumping to conclusions which are not apparent in any sense whatsoever. In reply to his right hon. Friend, I indicated that there would be discussions between the Government and the TUC and the CBI on these matters, and I have no doubt that that will be one of the items that will arise in those discussions.