HC Deb 24 November 1983 vol 49 cc452-6
Q1. Mr. Pawsey

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

The Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Biffen)

I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in New Delhi.

Mr. Pawsey

I thank my right hon. Friend for that typically frank and forthcoming reply. However, does he agree that regional policy as currently structured has been a failure, that it has not helped British industry and that it merely serves as a form of musical chairs, moving jobs from one area to another?

Mr. Biffen

There has been growing debate about the effectiveness of regional policy and in that context my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has acknowledged that expenditure on regional policy has not necessarily been closely related to the creation of new jobs. He will be bringing a White Paper before the House in the near future setting out the Government's proposals to make that expenditure more cost-effective, and I am certain that there will be constructive debate thereafter.

Mr. Steel

Is the Leader of the House aware that the decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment to withdraw his draft circular on the green belt will be widely welcomed, but that if the Government are to be effective in protecting the environment the right hon. Gentleman must also withdraw his draft circular on land for housing?

Mr. Biffen

I note with gratitude the remarks of the right hon. Gentleman on the action of my right hon. Friend, which goes to show that he is sensitive to arguments deployed in the community generally and in the House. I cannot comment on the second matter, but I am sure that my right hon. Friend will take account of it in his future action.

Mr. McCrindle

Has my right hon. Friend noticed the announcement by British Airways that there is to be a freeze on domestic air fares? Does he join me in welcoming this move, which indicates what can be done when there is the combination of progressive management and a co-operative work force? Can we look forward to more of the same when the airline is privatised?

Mr. Biffen

I join my hon. Friend in welcoming the evidence of a proposed price freeze by British Airways. I agree that it is an example of what can be achieved by first-rate management working with a first- rate work force.

Mr. Bidwell

As the right hon. Gentleman is obviously very close to the Prime Minister, will he tell the House what she is up to in New Delhi and whether she is leading the bulk of the Commonwealth in continuing to denounce the action of the United States in Grenada?

Mr. Biffen

I am sure that my right hon. Friend, in Delhi as elsewhere, is being the most forthright and successful exponent of British national interests.

3. Mr. Stephen Ross

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

Mr. Biffen

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Ross

In view of the continuing concern being expressed by our constituents over the possibility of danger from radiation exposure arising from nuclear emissions of one sort or another, may we have a categorical assurance that all such problems will be thoroughly investigated? May we have a further assurance that no consent will be given to the CEGB to order any parts for the proposed Sizewell reactor until the outcome of the inquiry that is now being held has been published?

Mr. Biffen

I think that the hon. Gentleman raises a matter of widespread public interest, not least in the context of Sellafield. As he will know, the Radiochemical inspectorate is carrying out an investigation at Sellafield and its findings will be made available. Also, the Nuclear Installations inspectorate is making preliminary investigations. I think that that is a testimony to the seriousness with which this matter is very properly regarded. The CEGB has a good record of concern for public safety. I am sure that it will take account of the hon. Gentleman's remarks.

Mr. Sumberg

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the fact that the Manchester Evening News—which circulates widely in my constituency—did not appear last night because some of its contents were unacceptable to the National Graphical Association represents a real threat to the freedom of the press in this country? Does he further agree that if that were allowed to continue it would be the beginning of the end of freedom of opinion and freedom of speech?

Mr. Biffen

I think that my hon. Friend does the House a service by drawing its attention to this very serious situation.

Mr. Hattersley

May we return to the subject of the Prime Minister's day, in particular the sophisticated satellite which, according to the No. 10 briefing, is keeping the Prime Minister in touch with every nuance of Government policy? May we be told whether it was used to clear with the Prime Minister the speech made by the Secretary of State for Energy on Tuesday?

Mr. Biffen

I am not quite clear who the sophisticated satellite is—[HON. MEMBERS: "You."] I regard the term "sophistication" in relation to myself as being unnecessarily offensive coming from the right hon. Gentleman when he has the privilege to sneak to the Dispatch Box in the absence of his right hon. Friend. I am certain that in many corners of the House there will be a widespread welcome for one remark, above all others, of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy, when he said: The build-up of Soviet military power has grown worse and met with an inadequate Western response. He was there speaking with a voice which I suspect can find fewer and fewer echoes on the Opposition Benches.

Mr. Hattersley

I am sure that the Leader of the House, plain man that we all know him to be, understands that there is a serious question concerning collective responsibility. Does each Cabinet Minister now speak for himself or does each Cabinet Minister speak for the Government?

Mr. Biffen

I do have, perhaps, the disappointing advantage of having read the speech. It is wholly within the terms of collective responsibility, tightly drawn as they are for this Administration, unlike what they were for the elastic regime in which the right hon. Gentleman served.

4. Mr. Andrew MacKay

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

Mr. Biffen

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. McKay

Does my right hon. Friend consider that Her Majesty's official Opposition were crying crocodile tears on behalf of the pensioners yesterday when, throughout the entire debate, there were hardly any Opposition Members present and, when the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) was summing up, there were very few Opposition Members present even though it was their allotted day for debate?

Mr. Biffen

I think that all hon. Members will know that occasionally there are difficulties in securing a full House for even the most portentous and demanding of topics. There speaks a fully paid-up member of the usual channels. I do not think that the limited number of Opposition Members in attendance yesterday is in any sense an indication of their views on matters of welfare spending. They are deeply committed to it. I must say that the Government are deeply committed to welfare spending but we believe that we must organise the Government and the economy to provide the necessary resources before we can proceed to the generous debate about how they should be allocated.

Mr. Willie W. Hamilton

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman a simple question. Does he agree with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury who said earlier this afternoon that he agreed with the Prime Minister that the numbers in employment are increasing?

Mr. Biffen

The latest evidence made available by the Department of Employment is that the number of those in employment is on the increase.

Mr. Hayes

Will my right hon. Friend join me in expressing the outrage of the House over the actions of certain illegal pickets in Warrington this morning who saw fit to stone police officers, causing them injury, while they were trying to uphold the rule of law?

Mr. Biffen

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. Violence on the picket line will do no service to the trade union movement and no service to industrial relations.

5. Mr. Dubs

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

Mr. Biffen

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Dubs

Will the Lord Privy Seal explain why the tax burden on the British people is now higher than it was four and a half years ago?

Mr. Biffen

Certainly. It is because we have maintained essential, social and other protective spending at a time of major international recession.

Sir John Biggs-Davison

In view of the welcome improvement in relations between India and Pakistan, will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister endeavour in New Delhi, with other Heads of Government, to facilitate the return of Pakistan to the Commonwealth, which is the desire of its Government and people?

Mr. Biffen

I am certain that that is one productive end towards which my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will wish to work, but by using all the patient agencies of negotiation rather than the more headline-grabbing techniques that are sometimes urged upon her.

Q7. Mr. Alton

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

Mr. Biffen

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Alton

Will the Lord Privy Seal say why Her Majesty's Government at New Delhi this week have been the only Government not to agree to the ratification of the law of the sea convention? Will he also tell us why Britain has been alone again in being against a new Bretton Woods agreement, proposed by many of our Commonwealth partners?

Mr. Biffen

Most of those who are advocating a new Bretton Woods agreement are usually advocating a fairly generous regime of credit financing to which they are not going to be major contributors. If there is to be any sound basis of international co-operation on these matters, it must be on terms by which the self-interest of all the competing powers is engaged. In that sense, my right hon. Friend spoke the voice of realism and the conference was that much better advantaged for it.

Mr. Lawrence

Is my right hon. Friend aware that employees of the National Freight Consortium, who purchased shares in their industry at £1 a time two years ago, have seen their value rise to £4? Is that not an example of just how successful privatisation can be for the employee, the company and the consumer?

Mr. Biffen

I agree with my hon. and learned Friend. I believe that, as the argument for a redrawn frontier between private ownership and public ownership is conducted, we shall find more and more that the arguments are with ourselves and that our opponents will be put to flight.

Mr. Randall

Will the right hon. Gentleman give his reaction to the House at the news, which is now breaking, that the municipalised Hull telephone operation will be placing an order worth £20 million over the next seven to eight years for the British-built system X product? Does he agree that this will be a major boost to the British telecommunications industry and to the workers at Coventry and Edge Lane?

Mr. Biffen

As someone who started his political career by fighting the old East Coventry division, which has some of the works to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, I am delighted that there has been a successful bid for that business on behalf of a British work force and British management. I hope that it is the precursor of many more successes.

Q9. Mr. McGuire

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

Mr. Biffen

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. McGuire

Reverting to the right hon. Gentleman's spirited defence of the Government's record on pensions and social services, does he believe that St. Francis would have been pleased with the Government's action last Friday, when they denied a Second Reading to the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing)?

Mr. Biffen

The action of last Friday can be wholly and justifiably defended on the basis that the Bill was bureaucratic and did not represent the most desirable approach to the problem. In addition, the methods used were exactly the same as those that have been applied on successive Fridays for many years.