§ Q1. Mr. Bruceasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 July.
§ The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.
§ Mr. BruceThe Prime Minister said on Tuesday that we need a merchant shipbuilding fleet for strategic reasons. In view of the comments this morning by the auditors of British Shipbuilders that the sell-off of the warship yard, which will be dependent on Government contracts, will leave the rest of British Shipbuilders as a hopelessly non-viable institution, will the Prime Minister now acknowledge that privatisation has become her party's clause 4 and that the latest decision is a triumph of ideology over common sense?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Mr. Speaker. I understand that the auditors Arthur Young McLelland Moores have issued a statement making it clear that they did not criticise the Government. They have denied expressing any opinion whatever on the merit or otherwise of privatisation. The report is wrong. The whole of British Shipbuilders has 1233 been dependent upon subsidies from the intervention fund for a considerable time, and since 1979 the Government have put in £1.1 billion to assist British Shipbuilders.
§ Mr. Maxwell-HyslopWill my right hon. Friend confirm that the chairman of British Shipbuilders said in evidence that there was no country in which merchant shipbuilding existed without Government support?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not sure whether that is correct. I know that large subsidies are given to shipbuilding the world over. Certainly considerable subsidies are given in this country. For example, the £1.1 billion given in support of British Shipbuilders since 1979 amounts to over £20,000 for each current employee.
§ Q2. Mr. Thurnhamasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 July.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave earlier.
§ Mr. ThurnhamDoes my right hon. Friend agree with Mrs. Parry, the South Wales miner's wife —[Interruption.] who said in a radio broadcast—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. We all have lapses of memory.
§ Mr. ThurnhamDoes my right hon. Friend agree with Mrs. Parry, the South Wales miner's wife —[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I ask the House to allow the hon. Gentleman to ask his question.
§ Mr. ThurnhamMrs. Party said that she would like the miners' union to hold democratic ballots and the miners to be free of intimidation if they return to work. Does my right hon. Friend not think it ironic that the leaders of the supposedly democratic Labour party are suddenly struck dumb—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman has asked his question. The Prime Minister cannot be responsible for what Opposition hon. Members may think.
§ The Prime MinisterI got the drift of my hon. Friend's question. He wants a ballot for the coal workers, and he believes that there should be a ballot while they are on strike. I know that in April the Leader of the Opposition also thought that there should be a ballot —[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Mr. David Steel.
§ Mr. SteelAfter the biggest rise in mortgage rates for five years, does the Prime Minister still agree with this sentence in the 1979 Conservative party manifesto—[HON. MEMBERS: "Reading."] Yes, I am reading. It says:
Mortgage rates have risen steeply because of the Government's financial mismanagement.
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is very well aware of the reasons why the interest rates went up. They had been kept disconnected from American interest rates for a very long time, but when we came to the period when strikes were beginning to have an effect those interest rates had to go up. The market took them up and the Government had to validate what the market had done. As the right hon. Gentleman is aware, I always regret any increase in interest rates, and I am the first to wish for the time when they can come down again.
§ Mr. BerminghamPerhaps the Prime Minister might find time during her busy day to explain to hon. Members and others why, if the economy is in the healthy state that she and her Ministers claim, the City is so worried?
§ The Prime MinisterI thought that the exchange rate, for example, was going very well yesterday. If the hon. Gentleman thinks that the City is so worried when the financial index is well over 750—at about 770—what did he think when it was down to 140 under the Labour Government?
§ Q3. Mr. Penhaligonasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 July.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. PenhaligonIs the Prime Minister aware that the million or so residents of Cornwall and Devon are within seven to 10 days of having their water supply reduced to seven hours a day—and that is if they are lucky? Will she check today that her Minister is doing all that is possible to approve orders that will enable the water authority to increase the amount of water taken from rivers and reduce the amount wasted through reservoirs? Furthermore, will the right hon. Lady consider the temporary appointment of a Minister to ensure that all that can possibly be done is done to reduce the impact of this undoubted difficulty?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, I do not think that the appointment of a special Minister for that purpose would help. I believe that my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction will be making a statement tomorrow about the matter which the hon. Gentleman has raised, and that there will be a statement later today, about Wales.
§ Mr. KinnockThere was much concern this morning over the news that Standard Telephones had made a serious takeover bid for ICL. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear to all concerned that she will use her Government's power to ensure that ICL, our only major independent computer company, remains in British control?
§ The Prime MinisterStandard Telephones is now a British company; it is not an American-owned company. The matter will be considered by the Director General of Fair Trading and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under the normal rules.
§ Mr. KinnockThe Prime Minister appears to be misinformed. "Who Owns Whom" clearly states that Standard Telephones is a subsidiary of ITT, which is an American company. Notwithstanding that, and as the yobs behind her drowned out the right hon. Lady's words, I again ask her whether she will absolutely ensure, in everyone's hearing, that there can be no question of this major computer company being under other than British control?
§ The Prime MinisterI inquired about the matter this morning and understand that Standard Telephones is now a British company. It has made a bid for ICL and the matter will be considered by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry after the advice of the Director General of Fair Trading under the normal rules.
§ Mr. WardSince my right hon. Friend was not heard clearly earlier, will she now take the opportunity to say a word in praise of those miners who have had the courage to go back to work in the face of all intimidations?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Mr. Speaker. Many of those who have returned to work were in areas where the National Union of Mineworkers branches had voted convincingly against a strike and for staying at work. Indeed, in the National Coal Board report there is a whole list of such areas. In Nottingham, they voted 73 per cent., in Cumberland 78 per cent., in South Derbyshire 84 per cent., in Leicestershire 89 per cent. and so on against a strike. I believe that it is right to want to keep the rule book of the NUM as the Nottinghamshire miners have done, that, it is right to give the industry a good prospect for the future, and that it is right to want to work to keep families. I do exactly as my hon. Friend asked and give every support to those who are returning to work for the future of their industry.
§ Q4. Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 July.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. WardellIn view of the rumours circulating in my constituency that the BSC corporate plan is being deliberately delayed until the miners' strike is over, will the Prime Minister now give a guarantee to the House that there is and will be nothing in that plan that will create more unemployment among BSC workers?
§ The Prime MinisterI have not seen the British Steel corporate plan and cannot say what it is likely to contain. I think that the threat to the jobs of BSC workers comes from the strike of the miners.
§ Mr. Patrick ThompsonDoes my right hon. Friend agree that the presence of pickets outside the home of a man who wants to go to work is yet a further intrusion into individual freedom and liberty and can only harm the public standing and reputation of the trade union movement?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, I think that some of the scenes of intimidation and violence that we have seen and the assembly of pickets outside houses, which is wholly and uttterly wrong, is recognised as wrong by all right thinking people. They wish to see that it does not happen and I hope that leaders of other trade unions will make their views felt about it.
§ Q5. Mr. Loydenasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 July.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. LoydenWill the Prime Minister have a look at the Standing Charges (Abolition) Bill, introduced yesterday by my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, 1236 North (Mr. Corbyn)? As many families and elderly and sick people are now finding the cost of heating a matter of luxury rather than need, will the right hon. Lady approve and support the Bill when it comes before the House?
§ The Prime MinisterNo. We inquired into standing charges some time ago and they were reduced under certain circumstances. There are quite a number of families for whom the abolition of standing charges would not be advantageous.
§ Mr. Peter BruinvelsHas my right hon. Friend had time to read the report on the speech of the hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton), which is far more courageous than the attitude taken by the Leader of the Opposition? Is not that being responsible?
§ The Prime MinisterI believe that most people are against the violence and intimidation that has taken place outside pits and the homes of certain miners. Most people believe that there should be a ballot in the coal industry and for the future of that industry it would be advisable for people to go back to work. I believe, too, that most people understand the case for the closure of uneconomic pits because of the tremendous burden on the taxpayer should they all remain open.
§ Mr. HayesOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition made a statement during Prime Minister's Question Time which concerns my constituency.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman started to say that it was a point of order which arose out of Question Time, but it must be a matter on which I can rule.
§ Mr. HayesThe right hon. Gentleman's statement was both inaccurate and positively dangerous to jobs in my constituency and this country. The Leader of the Opposition said that STC was owned by the United Stages of America.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I think that the Prime Minister clarified the matter.
§ Mr. EwingOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. For many weeks we have had points of order and questions from both sides of the House about improving Prime Minister's Question Time. Would it be helpful if each night after 10.30 the questions that are planted by the Prime Minister and are unable to be read by her Back Benchers could be read out and the Prime Minister could have the opportunity to read the replies.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I think that the most helpful suggestion would be for the Prime Minister to be heard in silence and for those who question her to be heard in silence, too.
§ Mr. Terry LewisOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can we ensure that planted questions are remembered?