§ Q3. Mr. John Townendasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 30 June.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. TownendIs my right hon. Friend aware of the growing public concern about the availability of video tapes featuring hard pornography and extreme violence? What action do the Government intend to take to deal with the problem?
§ The Prime MinisterI recognise the great concern caused by this matter. That is why we referred to it in our party manifesto during the election campaign. It is not enough to have voluntary regulation. We must bring in a law to regulate the matter. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary is now considering precisely what form that law should take.
§ Mr. WareingWill the right hon. Lady publish the report by the Central Policy Review Staff, which was referred to in the third report of the Select Committee on the Environment yesterday, and which predicted the disorders that arose on Merseyside? The Government made no response to the report at the time.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is not the practice to publish reports by the Central Policy Review Staff —[Interruption.] It is not the practice. In rare exceptions it is done, but in the majority of cases Governments do not publish. That report did not predict the Toxteth riots. It did, however, take the view that if high unemployment persisted and if the entire region became one of concentrated disadvantage the existing support services and income redistribution mechanisms would be inadequate to prevent social unrest.
§ Q4. Mr. Hal Millerasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 30 June.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. MillerDoes my right hon. Friend agree that we must make a serious effort to negotiate disarmament, both nuclear and conventional, but that in the light of the Soviet superiority to which she has referred such disarmament must be mutual, balanced and verifiable? As the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Callaghan) said, is not unilateralism dead?
§ The Prime MinisterYes. I believe that the British people have totally and utterly rejected unilateralism and 699 that they never really toyed with it at all. I agree that unless disarmament is balanced and verifiable we shall undermine the central security and freedoms upon which the whole foundation of life in Britain depends.
§ Mr. ParkBearing in mind that each fall of 1 per cent. in the inflation rate has led to 200,000 more unemployed, does reducing the inflation rate to zero mean that another 1 million people will join the dole queue?
§ The Prime MinisterWith respect to the hon. Gentleman, I believe that that is a ridiculous question. Those countries that have consistently had a low level of inflation have the lowest rates of unemployment.
§ Mr. AitkenWill my right hon. Friend find time today to clarify the situation caused by the Opposition's request for a large number of new Labour peerages? Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is a certain illogicality in the fact that a party which, before the election, campaigned for the abolition of the House of Lords, is now campaigning for 26 of its failed candidates to be sent there?
§ The Prime MinisterI cannot reveal in any way the content of talks between the Leader of the Opposition and myself, which are wholly confidential. It is customary to have a Dissolution honours list, and we are preparing that at present.