§ Q2. Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 3 June.
§ The Prime MinisterIn addition to my duties in this House I shall be having meetings with ministerial colleagues and others.
§ Mr. BottomleyHow does my right hon. Friend intend to deal with the reduction in the United Kingdom contribution to the EEC? Am I right in thinking that a good part of it will be put towards the public sector borrowing requirement and so lead to lower interest rates? Is not that the key to future progress?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend is right. One of our greatest problems is high interest rates. It is vital that the refunds that we have secured from the European budget should go to reducing the public sector borrowing requirement and, therefore, interest rates.
§ Mr. David SteelSince the purchasing power of the pound has continued to fall steadily under this Government, so that the value of the 50p piece introduced in 1969 is now only 13½p, will the right hon. Lady consider commemorating the first year of this Government's term of office by introducing a £1 coin?
§ The Prime MinisterI have not considered that. The greater part of the reduction did not occur under this Government.
§ Mr. John CarlisleWill my right hon. Friend take time off today to send a message of support to the British Lions rugby team in South Africa, to encourage it in its games against multi-racial teams in front of multi-racial crowds? Is it not time that we tore up the Gleneagles agreement?
§ The Prime MinisterI am sorry to disappoint my hon. Friend. We advised the British Lions that to go to South Africa would be contrary to the Gleneagles agreement. We also said that when sufficient advances had been made in the present arrangements in South Africa for races playing together we would consider revising the agreement. That time has not yet arrived.
§ Mr. BagierDoes the right hon. Lady appreciate that the treatment that she received from some people during her recent visit to Sunderland was less than the courtesy normally given to VIPs visiting the area?
§ Mr. William HamiltonIt served her right.
§ Mr. BagierWhat will she do to alleviate the tremendous problems of Sunderland and similar areas?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not agree with the hon. Gentleman's assessment. I had a very enjoyable and valuable visit to Sunderland and Durham. I hope to return to the North-East again. I learnt a good deal about their problems. One problem in Sunderland is persistent unemployment, which results from the great difficulties of the older industries. The hon. Gentleman is aware that subsidies are being given to help shipbuilding. We shall do all that we can. He will also be aware of the proposal in the Budget for enterprise zones. Many people are applying for those zones. I hope that decision will be made within about six weeks on who shall have them.
§ Mr. MellorHas my right hon. Friend had an opportunity to study the new policy document to which the Labour Party has apparently committed itself? Does she agree that it appears to be nothing short of disgraceful that the Labour Party's policy-making has been taken over by the Trotskyite militant faction?
§ The Prime MinisterI have not considered it, but I am sure that what my hon. Friend has said is true, and therefore the document will not be among my top priorities for reading.
§ Q3. Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 3 June.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave a few moments ago.
§ Mr. RossIf the Prime Minister meets the Chancellor of the Exchequer some time before the end of the day, I hope that they will do something to help manufacturing industry in this country. Are we now positively to discriminate in favour of the producers in our society, or 1243 is the right hon. Lady prepared to go down in history as the Prime Minister who allowed more bankruptcies and more closures to take place than at any other time in the last 100 years? What does she intend to do to help our manufacturing industry, faced with an over-valued pound and high interest rates?
§ The Prime MinisterI have already seen my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer today, and we discussed just these problems. The greatest help that can come about for manufacturing industry is for wage increases to be related to productivity increases. That is a matter for employees and management to discuss together.
§ Mr. GummerWill my right hon. Friend take time today to ensure that the public are aware of the fact that during five years' of Labour Government no kind of rearrangement with the EEC was achieved, whereas in one year of this Conservative Government a major change has taken place—and the right hon. Member for Stepney and Poplar (Mr. Shore) was ungenerous enough to carp even at that great success?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. The one thing that the right hon. Member for Stepney and Poplar (Mr. Shore) forgot was the Labour Government's lamentable record on this front.
Mr. James CallaghanWould the right hon. Lady care to take into account that in two years of Labour government we made a surplus in our dealings with the EEC, which is more than her Government have done? With regard to the general position—with which the question by the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Ross) is concerned—why does the Prime Minister propose to wait until mid-July to get her Cabinet together to consider the failure of these economic policies? Ought they not to be reversed immediately?
§ The Prime MinisterAny years in surplus must have been arranged by the previous Government. The White Paper on public expenditure demonstrates the actual transfers of funds over the past years, which were enormous during the latter part of the Labour Government's term of office and were enormous this year. What has been negotiated now is a 1244 refund of some £710 million this year and a refund of some £860 million next year, which is an excellent result, and of course we shall continue with the restructuring of the common agricultural policy and of the EEC budget. Meetings of the Cabinet on economic policy are regular.
Mr. CallaghanWhat is the status of this Cabinet meeting to be held on 16 July? Is it to reverse these dreadful polices which, after 13 months of Conservative Government, have led to a high rate of inflation and the threat of even higher unemployment? The right hon. Lady knows also that the output of manufacturing industry is going to decline. When will she adopt policies that will reverse these disasters?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is trying very hard. We have regular Cabinet meetings on economic policy. We do not reveal the agendas. Nor did he reveal the agendas of his Cabinet.
Mr. CallaghanIn that case, the right hon. Lady need not wait for Cabinet meetings in order to reverse these policies. It is the disaster that is overtaking Britain and its people that we are concerned about. What is she going to do about it?
§ The Prime MinisterOne relevant matter that has come up today is that the refund will go towards reducing expenditure, which will help to reduce interest rates. I shall, of course, be very grateful for any help that the right hon. Gentleman sees fit to give in encouraging wage increases to keep step with productivity increases, but I do not expect such assistance from that quarter.
§ Mr. BrintonDuring the course of her busy day, will my right hon. Friend spare a moment to reflect on the sad events at the CEGB power station at Grain, in my constituency, last Tuesday, not in any sense to crow that right thinking overcame violence, but to look at the deeper implications? Does my right hon. Friend agree that the 1,600 people who were in work wish to continue working? If the trade unions involved can cobble up their differences, will she please encourage the CEGB to go ahead and complete that power station, thus giving those loyal people the work that they want?
§ The Prime MinisterI am glad to respond to my hon. Friend. I think that the state of affairs at the Isle of Grain power station shows two things. The first is the lamentable relationship between the unions concerned, which I hope they will be able to sort out in the interests of all who work in the industry and of trade unionism itself, and the second is the lamentable state of affairs for the people of this country who have put an enormous amount of investment into that power station, which is reflected in their electricity prices. I hope that the power station will be completed and produce the electricity for which it was designed.
§ Q4. Mr. Canavanasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 3 June.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave a few moments ago.
§ Mr. CanavanWill the right hon. Lady find time to make a statement about reports of Government contingency plans for the use of the Armed Forces in Scottish hospitals in the event of industrial action by hospital workers? Why not avoid the possibility of industrial disputes by giving the Health Service workers a decent wage increase instead of using troops as scab labour to do a job for which they are not trained?
§ The Prime MinisterI hope that satisfactory agreements will be concluded, because, after all, those who work in the Health Service serve the people of this country, including Scotland, and I hope that that will be their top priority.
§ Mr. CadburyWill my right hon. Friend find time today to take account of the anger felt by many people in Birmingham over the recent decision by the Labour-controlled council to end the sale of council houses? Will she give an assurance that when the Housing Bill becomes law no council will be allowed to deny tenants the right to buy their houses?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not certain whether that decision is final. If it is, I very much regret it, as do many of the people who live in those council houses. When the Housing Bill becomes law people will have the right to purchase their council houses, and hundreds of thousands of them will take up that right.
§ Mr. EnglishHas the right hon. Lady considered the possibility that one policy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer might be absolutely right if only he continued with it? Is she aware that the exchange rate would now probably be higher than it is had he not abolished exchange controls? Will she now suggest to her right hon. and learned Friend that he should carry on with his policy and reintroduce exchange controls in reverse, so that without increasing the money supply he can lower the exchange rate?
§ The Prime MinisterOf one thing I can assure the hon. Gentleman—[Interruption]. My right hon. and learned Friend—[HON. MEMBERS: " Answer "]. I am trying to.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The noise only takes away from the Prime Minister time for answering questions and makes it harder for her to answer.
§ The Prime MinisterI assure the hon. Member for Nottingham, West (Mr. English) that my right hon. and learned Friend will carry on with his present policies.
§ Mr. AncramIs my right hon. Friend aware that despite continuing Soviet aggression in Afghanistan a number of Labour-controlled councils in Scotland are giving large sums of ratepayers' money to support the Olympics? Does she regard that as a scandalous abuse of ratepayers' money at a time of restraint?
§ The Prime MinisterI am aware of that decision. I join my hon. Friend in thoroughly deploring it.
§ Mr. OgdenWill the right hon. Lady realise that this is a comparatively simple question? Will she inform her hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Ancram) that many councils, both Labour and Conservative, that might, for their own reasons, want to sell council houses will be unable to do so because funds for mortgages are being denied to those councils by her right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment?
§ The Prime MinisterBut the funds for the building of the houses have already been borrowed and are then repaid. It is not impossible to transfer that loan to the tenant.