HC Deb 21 June 1979 vol 968 cc1497-9
Q5. Mr. Joseph Dean

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her public engagements for 21 June.

Mr. Whitelaw

I have been asked to reply.

Today my right hon. Friend is attending a meeting of the European Council in Strasbourg.

Mr. Dean

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to take time off today to consider the effect of the cuts that the Secretary of State for Education and Science has announced in nursery provision and primary school rebuilding programmes, bearing in mind that my constituency still has to suffer primary schools that are over 100 years old, to ascertain whether there can be any alteration of the savage cuts and the adverse effects that they will have?

Mr. Whitelaw

I shall ensure that the hon. Gentleman's remarks are conveyed to my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science. My right hon. Friend will carefully consider what he has said.

Mr. Strang

Will the right hon. Gentleman take the opportunity to deny reports coming from Brussels that his right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is preparing the ground for a sell-out in the current EEC farm price negotiations? Does he agree that the policy of his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister of securing a real reduction in Britain's disproportionate contribution to the EEC budget will be undermined if the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food does not insist on the previous Labour Government's policy of a complete EEC common farm price freeze?

Mr. Whitelaw

I do not regard it as possible in any circumstances that my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will ever be engaged in a sell-out. Obviously my right hon. Friend will make a statement to the House when he returns. I ask the hon. Gentleman to await that statement.

Mr. Concannon

Bearing in mind the Prime Minister's known sympathy with efforts to try to keep open hospitals, will the right hon. Gentleman draw to her attention the Adjournment debate that took place on Monday evening? As the right hon. Lady cannot go to Wisbech, will she find time to come to Mansfield to help me keep open two or three local hospitals?

Mr. Whitelaw

My right hon. Friend will not be able to go to Mansfield on Monday.

Mr. Concannon

Why not?

Mr. Whitelaw

I understand that she will be making a statement about her visit to Strasbourg. As the House will know, she is leaving the United Kingdom on Tuesday to attend a summit meeting in Tokyo.

Miss Richardson

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, when she returns from Strasbourg, to pop into her local launderette with her weekly wash, where she will find that because of VAT being increased to 15 per cent. the cost of using a machine has increased by 10p? Will he ask her to bear in mind that launderettes are used by 2½ million consumers who, generally speaking, are one-parent families and poorer families who cannot afford washing machines?

Mr. Whitelaw

Without endorsing what the hon. Lady said, I shall certainly ensure that her comments are passed on to my right hon. Friend.

Mr. Gummer

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Prime Minister is more likely to get a good deal for Britain in the Common Market because she demonstrated her support of the European Community—more so than her predecessor, who showed himself unwilling to stand up for our place in Europe?

Mr. Whitelaw

The position of the Government on Europe is widely respected and regarded throughout the European Community.