HC Deb 27 July 1978 vol 954 cc1793-5
Q3. Mr. Madden

asked the Prime Minister if he intends to address the TUC annual conference.

The Prime Minister

The general council has invited me to address the TUC annual conference in September, and I have accepted.

Mr. Madden

When the Prime Minister speaks there, will he warn workers against any overtures from a new small but sinister organisation called the National Union of Tory Intellectuals, which is extremely vague on incomes policy, packaged by a PR firm which was, at least until Tuesday, advised by the former Conservative Member for South Angus?

The Prime Minister

I would be very happy to look into this interesting proposition. I thought that the Conservative policy was quite clear on pay: that those who are on low pay should have substantial increases, that those who are on high pay and skilled should get substantial increases, that the managers should also get substantial increases, and that it should all be done within 5 per cent. That, I thought was the policy that I heard on Tuesday.

Mr. Michael Marshall

When the Prime Minister meets the TUC, will he take it into his confidence on his views as to the future of nationalised industries? Will he not confirm that many of the problems faced by nationalised industries—for example, the difficulties they face over their profit figures in relation to different accounting systems—need to be looked at in the light of the Government's own White Paper, which is long overdue for discussion?

Will the Prime Minister undertake to play his part, and when he comes back to the House in October—[HON. MEMBERS: "Yes, as Prime Minister."] Will the Prime Minister, when he conies back to the House, play his part as Leader of the Opposition in trying to resolve these problems?

The Prime Minister

The depreciation methods used by nationalised industries, I agree with the hon. Gentleman, are not satisfactory for them—or, indeed, for private industries and private companies, as many of them at the present time are calculating depreciation on a different basis. What the Electricity Council has done this year—which seems to reveal a reduced profit, but is, in fact, accounted for because of its new depreciation position—is probably a move in the right direction. Certainly the Government will continue to give more consideration to this, and I hope that we shall get some agreement from industry too.

Mr. Stoddart

Will my right hon. Friend also remind the TUC that under his Administration—a Labour Administration—the nationalised industries have been brought back into a position of profitability, whereas under the Conservative Administration they were losing huge sums of money? Will he tell that to the TUC, and also tell it to the Opposition?

The Prime Minister

Yes, it is the case that when the Conservative Opposition were in power they did not permit the nationalised industries to charge economic prices for the services they rendered, and they then had the effrontery to blame the nationalised industries for not making profits. The present position is far more healthy.