§ Q2. Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Prime Minister if she has any plans to visit Macclesfield.
§ The Prime MinisterI have at present no plans to do so.
§ Mr. WintertonDistressed though I am that the Prime Minister will not be able to visit my constituency, may I ask her whether she is aware that, had she had time to do so, she would have realised that the vast majority of my constituents, particularly the war widows whose husbands served this country so well and guaranteed the freedom and democracy that we cherish today, are as appalled as many Members of this House at the antics of those blinkered and dangerous, even if sincere, women who are today invading the peaceful villages of Berkshire? Would they not do better to visit Berlin and link arms along the wall that seeks to keep people in the Soviet Union rather than the allies out of eastern Europe?
§ The Prime MinisterWith regard to the first part of my hon. Friend's question, he will know that the Government's record on war widows' pensions is excellent. They have been increased four times and we have taken war widows' pensions out of taxation altogether. Many war widows can also draw a separate pension because of their own contributions and many of them, since the last war, have done so, because they went back to work at the time.
With regard to what my hon. Friend said about those who are demonstrating on Greenham Common this Maundy Thursday, I agree with him and my right hon. colleagues who have said that it would make far more sense for those women to link hands around the Berlin wall. If, by doing so, they managed to persuade the Soviets to take it down, to remove the guns, the dogs and the mines that are there to kill those who attempt to escape to freedom, they would be achieving something. If they do not succeed in persuading the Soviets to take it down, they will prove that the freedom of the Greenham Common women and the freedom of all people in this country still needs to be defended.