PRIME MINISTER (ENGAGEMENTS) (Hansard, 29 June 1978)

§ Q4. Mr. Canavan
asked the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for 29th June.

§ The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Walker).

§ Mr. Canavan
Will the Prime Minister find time today to give an assurance that the Government will do everything possible next week to repair the damage done to the Scotland Bill by the House of Lords? Does he agree that one of the many advantages of the Scottish Assembly will be that devolved legislation will not have to go through the House of Lords, where many a good Bill has been wrecked beyond recognition by a crowd of political vandals and hooligans?

§ The Prime Minister
I can promise my hon. Friend and the House as a whole that the Government intend to ensure as far as possible that the Scotland Bill will be on the statute book by the end of the current Session. The House of Lords has behaved irresponsibly in a number of matters, but I look to the House of Commons to put them right.

§ Mr. Tebbit
On an earlier question the Prime Minister made the silly statement that Tory tax cuts benefited only the rich and would not do any good for 1572 the men and women who were out of jobs. If that is so, why is he on the record as saying on 8th June in column 366 of Hansard "The Tory tax cuts will reduce unemployment"? When was he right and when was he wrong?

§ The Prime Minister
The hon. Member has quoted me incorrectly. I said that if it was a choice between tax cuts and—

§ Mr. Tebbit
No.

§ The Prime Minister
It is no use the hon. Member shouting "No". I know what I said. I said that if it was a choice between tax cuts and seeking jobs we would choose jobs. I do not know what the hon. Member would do, but that is our attitude. Of course it is true that there would have been a small reduction in unemployment as a result of tax cuts, but if we had been able to stick to our original Budget there would have been no change at all and unemployment would have fallen further.

§ Mr. Heffer
On the matter of silly statements, does the Prime Minister agree that statements from the Conservative Front Bench, particularly in speeches in the country, are becoming increasingly silly every day? Does he further agree that we have had a speech by the hon. Member for Abingdon (Mr. Neave) which suggested that we on the Government side of the House are Nazis, and we have had speeches by the Leader of the Opposition suggesting that we are trying to bring about an East European State? Does he agree that the silliest speech of all was by the right hon. and learned Member for Surrey, East (Sir G. Howe), who wants to set up some sort of spiv outfit in the inner cities?

§ The Prime Minister
I am not sure whether the most dangerous speech has not been the one in which the Leader of the Opposition promised free collective bargaining for private industry but suggested that public industries should be kept within some sort of cash limits. If she really does not understand the degree of comparability between skilled workers in public industry and those in private industries I am sure that if she ever has any responsibility, she has a wonderful disillusionment coming.

§ Mr. Churchill
Will the Prime Minister earn his award for statesmanship by 1573 repudiating the harebrained suggestion of his Foreign Secretary that the multi-racial security forces of Rhodesia should be stood down and replaced by the terrorist thugs of Mr. Mugabe, who continue to slaughter black and white civilians alike in Africa? Is it still the Government's policy that they should go ahead along those lines?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, Sir. There is no change in the policy. It is important that those who are engaged in fighting outside the country and who at the same time are members of that country should be brought into reconciliation with the forces that exist inside the country. There will be no long-term peace in Rhodesia until that is achieved. That is the situation which the country must follow up. I hope that the Opposition will give some support to the idea of getting the two groups together if blacks and whites in Rhodesia are to have a future.