§ Q9. Mr. Greenwayasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 14 April.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. GreenwayHas my right hon. Friend heard the various estimates of the cost of implementing the recently published Labour policy proposals, at between £15 billion and £40 billion or 12p on the basic rate of income tax and 5 million unemployed? [Interruption.>] The Opposition 938 may well get excited. They have something to answer for. What does my right hon. Friend think would be the cost of their ridiculous, stupid and unwelcome proposals?
§ The Prime MinisterWe have done such calculations as we can. We understand that the one-off cost of the plans would be about £20 billion and the annual cost between £30 billion and £40 billion. The whole thing would be totally disastrous, but they will never have the chance to implement it.
§ Mr. EnglishIf the Duke of Westminster wins his case before the European Court of Human Rights, objecting to being told by law that he must sell freeholds to sitting tenants at less than the market value, will the Government arrange for local authorities to be treated similarly?
§ The Prime MinisterBefore we go any further on that case, we had better wait and see what the Commission and the court say.
§ Q10. Mr. Skinnerasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 14 April.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. SkinnerHow does the Prime Minister reconcile the Fortress Falklands policy of spending large sums of money in the Falkland Islands with propping up the Argentine economy by allowing and encouraging British banks to send large sums of money to Argentina so that it can buy more arms such as Exocets and frigates from Common Market countries? Argentina will therefore be able to turn round to British bankers and refuse to pay the £900 million that it owes in repayments for 1982. Is it not the case that the Prime Minister has been taken for a ride by the Argentines?
§ The Prime MinisterIf a country such as Argentina were to default while having a balance of payments, it would have more money with which to buy armaments than it would if it were forced to pay its debts. It is, therefore, much better to pursue a policy that forces Argentina to pay its debts than to release money for extra armaments. Moreover, if we had acted in any other way, Argentina might have defaulted to many third countries. That could have had a considerable impact on the entire Western banking system. It was not an easy decision to take, but, in the end it was the best one for Britain.