§ Q1. Mr. Skinnerasked the Prime Minister if she is prepared to meet a representative group of nurses in respect of their current wage claim; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)Current wage claims are not negotiated through my office. 446 I understand the nurses want to talk about the long-term machinery for settling their pay. At a meeting last week with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services the staff side of the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council again asked if I would see it. I have therefore agreed to see it tomorrow.
§ Mr. SkinnerWhen the Prime Minister meets the nurses, will she give them a clear unequivocal commitment that their pay increase for next year will be no less than 15.2 per cent., as measured by the Government's tax and price index? Is it not a scandal that, at a time when the Government are forcing up rents to the tune of £2.50 a week, when there are many other price increases in the pipeline and when there is now the apparent conspiracy of the Law Lords and a Tory council to push up fares, nurses and other workers should be treated in that fashion?
§ The Prime MinisterI have already said that I do not negotiate current wage claims. The Government have made clear the high esteem in which they hold the nurses. In the last three years there has been a 76 per cent. increase in the nurses' pay bill.
§ Mr. David SteelDoes the Prime Minister agree that there is a real danger that responsible groups in our society, such as the nurses, who do not resort to strike action, will find themselves increasingly penalised until we develop a fair and comprehensive incomes policy?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not believe that there is any practicable possibility of achieving a comprehensive incomes policy. I do not believe that such a possibility exists in our society. It exists only in societies where there is the direction of labour and the extinction of freedom.
§ Mr. Paul DeanDoes my right hon. Friend recollect that the nurses felt badly let down by the Labour Government and that they are now hoping for better things following their meeting with her tomorrow? Would it not be easier to get a good settlement for the nurses if everyone in the health services followed the good example of the Royal College of Nursing and outlawed strike action against patients?
§ The Prime MinisterI wholly agree with my hon. Friend. It would also make it easier if there were more pay for certain groups of people whom we especially value in society, and if other people did not take it out for themselves.