Engagement

HC Deb 24 March 1981 vol 1 cc801-6

Q1. Mr. Canavan

asked the Prime Minister what are her official engagements for 24 March.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. William Whitelaw)

I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend is taking part in the meeting of the European Council at Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Mr. Canavan

Is it sheer coincidence that when, for the first time in the lifetime of this Parliament, I have landed question No. 1 to the Prime Minister, she has hopped off to Holland for a Common Market meeting? As the Prime Minister is primarily responsible for today's announcement of yet another appalling record unemployment total, will the Home Secretary send an urgent message to the Prime Minister telling her not to bother to come back because we shall all be better off without her?

Mr. Whitelaw

I will do my best.—[Interruption.] I will do my best to hear the hon. Gentleman. If he wishes to refer to the unemployment figures, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment has made the position clear. If the policies that his party proposes were to be followed, the situation would be a great deal worse and he and his party know that.

Mr. John Townend

Will my right hon. Friend take time today to remind the public sector unions that, if their policy of obstructing the collection of revenue is successful, it could well lead to increasing pressure on the Government to suspend the inflation-proofing of public sector pensions?

Mr. Whitelaw

I hope that all those taking part in this unfortunate dispute will realise their great responsibilities to the public.

Mr. Beith

Has the Home Secretary seen the reports of what the Prime Minister has said today in Holland about the fisheries dispute? While he may welcome, as most of us will, an attempt to resolve that dispute, will he assure the Prime Minister that there will be great anger in the fishing community if she gives way on access in order to secure a settlement?

Mr. Whitelaw

It is clear from the reports from Maastricht that my right hon. Friend has made the position of this country's fishing industry very clear. She will make a statement when she returns.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Will my right hon. Friend take time today to spell out to those who want to share equally in the country's wealth that they have another 10 days in which to apply to buy their homes at the prices set in August last year?

Mr. Whitelaw

I agree with my hon. Friend. No doubt some of those Labour councils which have been trying to obstruct the development will realise how stupid they have been.

Mr. Winnick

Bearing in mind the remarks of the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Gardiner) to the effect that a number of his Conservative colleagues are trying to replace the Prime Minister as leader, will the right hon. Gentleman say whether such plotting has minority or, by now, majority support in the Cabinet?

Mr. Whitelaw

If any people are taking that view, they are very stupid indeed.

Q2. Mr. Marlow

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 24 March.

Mr. Whitelaw

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave earlier.

Mr. Marlow

Is my right hon. Friend aware that BSC at Stanton and Staveley is setting up a Companies Act company with a separate board of directors? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that that is the beginning of a massive programme of denationalisation and that, as that takes place, workers and employees in the nationalised industries will be able to buy a stake in their companies and participate? Does he agree that they will then have a stake in their workplace and that the nationalised industries will have a rather lower stake in the taxpayers' pocket?

Mr. Whitelaw

As my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Industry, said on 19 March, the proposals made in that case will pave the way For privatisation.

Mrs. Renée Short

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the serious situation facing many of London's postgraduate medical institutions? Is he aware that the Royal postgraduate school at Hammersmith lost £941,000 this year and that the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine lost about £750,000 because of the decline in the number of overseas doctors coming here as a result of the increase in students' fees?

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask the Prime Minister to take that on board urgently and ensure that the Secretary of State for Education and Science, who is due to meet Lord Annan shortly, gives a reprieve to the postgraduate schools?

Mr. Whitelaw

This matter has been argued exhaustively. The Government position has been made clear. I shall draw my right hon. Friend's attention to what the hon. Lady has said.

Mr. John MacKay

Would it not have been better if the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) had acknowledged that the unemployment figures for Scotland this month show a slight but nonetheless welcome decline?

Mr. Whitelaw

It would indeed have been better, but it would not have been reasonable to expect him to do so.

Mr. Pavitt

Will the right hon. Gentleman exercise his well-known chivalry on behalf of the fair sex following the insensitivity of the Prime Minister in reply to questions about private medicine and the National Health Service? Is he aware that the Prime Minister's answer last week indicated her lack of understanding that women at the change of life are penalised unless they have the power of the purse to relieve them of their pain and misery? Will the right hon. Gentleman persuade the Prime Minister to take a different attitude?

Mr. Whitelaw

I shall speak to my right hon. Friend and tell her what the hon. Gentleman has said.

Mr. Best

With reference to his earlier reply, will my right hon. Friend welcome the fact that in the 18 months since the Government took office 120,000 council and new town houses have been sold to their tenants? Is he aware that since 3 October, when the right to buy arose, and 31 December, another 100,000 tenants have applied to buy their own homes? Does he agree that that represents a complete endorsement of the Government's policy to sell council houses and is in line with the desire of the people? Does he agree that the measure will be heralded by future generations as being one of the major social advances of this century?

Mr. Whitelaw

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I find it extraordinary that some Labour councils are apparently against something which so many people in their areas want. Why are they against it? Nobody can explain except them.

O3. Mr. Foster

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 March.

Mr. Whitelaw

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave earlier.

Mr. Foster

It is assumed that unemployment will rise to 3 million and stay there for two years. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that that implies that there will be 700,000 long-term unemployed? What is the Government's policy for the long-term unemployed, apart from reducing their benefits and hounding them with the DHSS fraud squad? What message of hope can we give to the long-term unemployed in the Northern region?

Mr. Whitelaw

I shall not indulge in forecasting nor will I accept some of the forecasts that have been made. I represent a constituency in the North and I take the Northern region's position very seriously indeed. The most important factor that will help the long-term unemployed in the Northern region and elsewhere is a reduction in inflation, which the Government are determined to achieve.

Mr. Moate

Will my right hon. Friend try to explain the practical purpose of the proposed new Common Market format burgundy passport?

Mr. Whitelaw

The proposed passport has been under discussion for a considerable time. The discussions were initiated by the right hon. Member for Huyton (Sir H. Wilson) when he was Prime Minister. Discussions are still continuing. We shall have to see how we get on and how eventually we plan the passport.

Q4. Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Prime Minister whether she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 March.

Mr. Whitelaw

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the reply which I gave earlier.

Mr. Janner

Will the right hon. Gentleman draw the Prime Minister's attention to the very high unemployment level in areas such as Leicester, which were until recently prosperous, but where over 10 per cent. are now unemployed and where over 15 per cent. of the workers are on short time? Is he aware that in one school in Leicester parental unemployment is over 40 per cent.? What will he do to help areas which were prosperous but which are now sinking fast under his Administration?

Mr. Whitelaw

I certainly accept the serious position of Leicester, which I visited recently. I say to the hon. and learned Gentleman what my right hon. Friends and I have said consistently—that the policy of bringing down inflation is the best means of finding jobs for such people.

Mr. Brotherton

What is the purpose of the burgundy-coloured Common Market passport?

Mr. Whitelaw

The purpose, as originally proposed when discussions were first undertaken, was to have a common passport throughout the European Community.

Mr. David Steel

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that on the radio at lunchtime the Secretary of State for Employmnent said that he was constantly raising the unemployment situation within the Cabinet. In the absence of the Prime Minister, will the Home Secretary arrange for the Secretary of State for Employment to have a more sympathetic hearing?

Mr. Whitelaw

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment has always had a sympathetic hearing. What people do or do not raise in the Cabinet is a matter for members of the Cabinet and nobody else.

Sir Derek Walker-Smith

Can my right hon. Friend say whether it is a fact that the burgundy-coloured passport was the brainchild of that noted "vinophile" Mr. Roy Jenkins?

Mr. Whitelaw

I do not wish to comment on its parentage. Let us see how the child gets on.

Mr. Foot

Since the right hon. Gentleman has been so reticent about what takes place in the Cabinet, can he give us his view, or that of the Prime Minister, on the speeches at the weekend by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food? Without revealing any Cabinet secrets, can he say whether he belongs to that half of the Cabinet that agrees with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food?

Mr. Whitelaw

I note that my right hon. Friend said in his speech at Worcester that the Conservative Party will be the governing party of Britain for the next half century. I entirely agree. I only wish that I could be there to see it.

Mr. Foot

I invite the right hon. Gentleman to stick around for a little longer. Did he also read those sections of the speech attributed to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in which he said that if it had not been for public expenditure over a whole range of Government policies unemployment would be very much higher than it is? Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with all that public expenditure? Does he wholeheartedly approve the whole of that speech?

Mr. Whitelaw

Certainly I agree with my right hon. Friend's remarks about expenditure on different industries. If it had not been for our support for British Leyland, not only would many jobs have been lost at British Leyland but many more jobs would have been lost in component industries throughout the West Midlands. If it had not been for public expenditure on the youth unemployment and training programmes the situation would have been very much worse. Everybody in the House will agree with those two examples.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

Will my right hon. Friend get a message to the Prime Minister while she is in Holland indicating that harmonisation of Excise duties on beer and wine are putting many brewery workers in this country out of work? We are merely soaking up the wine lake of Europe. Will the Government slow down the harmonisation so that we do not drink so much wine but drink more beer?

Mr. Whitelaw

I do not think that I would seek to comment on the relative merits of drinking more wine as opposed to drinking more beer. I shall refer the remarks of my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister when she returns.

Miss Joan Lestor

If the right hon. Gentleman gets time today to read my local paper he will see a report of the death of a youth who committed suicide because he was unable to find a job. In view of the seriousness of unemployment among young people, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to say to what level inflation has to fall before a decrease in unemployment can be expected?

Mr. Whitelaw

The hon. Lady has referred to a most tragic case reported in her local paper. I recognise the seriousness of that matter. I can only repeat what I believe to be the absolutely fundamental truth, that if we get inflation down we shall provide real and sensible jobs for our people in the future. There is no other way. The policies of the Opposition would make the situation a great deal worse.