§ Q1. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 18 December.
§ 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 this House I shall be having further meetings later today.
§ Mr. BennettWill the Prime Minister join me in congratulating Henry Simon Ltd. of Stockport on winning a contract for a new flour mill in China, worth £1.8 million? Is it not distressing that city slickers have now set up a company, Valuedale, to asset-strip the Simon group? Is she not ashamed of the fact that she has created the greed society, and will she apologise to the British people?
§ The Prime MinisterI am always willing to congratulate firms which have gained export contracts and wish them well. If the hon. Gentleman has any comment about any particular firm, he must make it to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
§ Sir Anthony MeyerCould my right hon. Friend find a moment today to reflect on the problem of public finance and Opposition parties, and in particular on the fact that the Liberal party, in criticising the way that hon. Members have voted in certain Divisions, appears unable to discover the fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Conwy (Mr. Roberts) is a member of the Government, so it would be normal for him to vote with the Government?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend made his point well, and grafted it on to a suitable question.
§ Q2. Mr. Ashleyasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 18 December.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the right hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. AshleyIs the Prime Minister aware that many hon. Members will welcome the decision by the Secretary of State for Defence to repeal section 10 of the Crown Proceedings Act, thus giving the disabled service men of today and tomorrow the right to sue for adequate compensation? Is she further aware that there can be no justification for the Secretary of State's mean-minded attempts to deny the same righs to the disabled service men who served in the atom tests of yesterday? Will the Prime Minister please intervene?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful for what the right hon. Gentleman said in the first part of his question. With regard to the latter part, it is either the subject of a case or under consideration.
§ Mr. CormackWill my right hon. Friend take a little time this afternoon to invite the Leader of the Opposition to her room for a bit of Christmas cheer? Will she then, on Privy Council terms, explain to him that there is no point in spending money on an early warning system unless we are prepared for the warning?
§ The Prime MinisterOnce again, my hon. Friend makes his own point very effectively in his question.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesDespite the humour in the House when my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Heffer) asked a question, will the Prime Minister read carefully the article by Hugo Young that appeared today in The Guardian? He states that a former Tory Cabinet Minister told him that he was provided with documents that contained security information about prominent members of the Labour party and that he was told by the same Cabinet Minister that he hoped that "Denis Healey"—my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East, whom I first met on the beaches at Anzio—[Interruption.] That is not a laughing matter. He said he was told that the Minister hoped my right hon. Friend would be found dead on the pavement in the morning, killed by an unauthorised group. Fantastic as it sounds, because of what we have learnt about the man Wright, whom I dislike as much as the Prime Minister—and I hope that he does badly in Australia—when the case is over, Wright ought to be brought to account, with others, 1347 so that we can find out whether there is anything in this article, or whether it is pure moonshine. Is it pure moonshine?
§ The Prime MinisterAs the right hon. Gentleman knows, I am not responsible for what is written in press articles. He knows full well that I can make no comment with regard to the conduct of the Wright case.
§ Mr. SimsWill my right hon. Friend find time today to congratulate the Post Office on the efficient manner in which, at the busiest time of the year, it handled and delivered 5 million letters of acceptance to British Gas shareholders? Will she also take the opportunity to remind those 5 million shareholders and their relatives of what would happen to their shareholdings if Labour came to power?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, I gladly join my hon. Friend in congratulating the Post Office on the efficiency with which it dealt with those 5 million letters. I remind the shareholders, or potential shareholders, that if the Labour party came to power they would never have the opportunity they have now and that they might be deprived of their right to equity shareholding.
§ Q3. Mr. Rogersasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 18 December.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. RogersI am sure the Prime Minister is aware that in my constituency and in the constituency of every hon. Member there are memorials to those who have given their lives for this country. I am also sure the right hon. Lady agrees that it is appropriate that at this time we should remember them and their families. Does the right hon. Lady also agree that patriotism and loyalty do not belong to any particular group or class or to any particular party?
§ The Prime MinisterAs far as I am aware, the hon. Gentleman has said nothing with which I disagree.
§ Mr. ChurchillWill my right hon. Friend explain to the CND fanatics on the Opposition Benches, in particular to the Leader of the Opposition, that in the nuclear age there is no such thing as a secure, non-nuclear defence? Is it not clear that, although they may try to conceal the fact from the British electorate, their only response, in the event of a nuclear threat or nuclear attack, would be the capitulation of this island to the gaolers of the nations of eastern Europe and to the butchers of the Afghans?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, I believe that an effective defence needs an effective nuclear deterrent. Without it we could not fight the potential aggressor who had a nuclear deterrent. I note what my hon. Friend said about Afghanistan, which has been occupied for just about seven years—for longer than the whole of the last war.
§ Q4. Mr. Maclennanasked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 18 December.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. MaclennanHas the Prime Minister read the latest criminal statistics, which show that, despite the determined efforts of the police to clear up crime, the number of crimes not being cleared up is increasing at a greater rate than before? Has she noticed that the offence of robbery and 1348 serious offences of violence against the person increased last year by more than 10 per cent? Because the Criminal Justice Bill will do nothing to reverse these alarming trends, what proposals has the Prime Minister in mind to halt this inexorable rise in crime?
§ The Prime MinisterUnfortunately, crime has been rising steadily for a number of years. The hon. Gentleman must be pleased that the Government have put more and more into the police service in personnel and in equipment. He will also be pleased that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has a vigorous campaign for crime prevention. The hon. Gentleman must be aware that we cannot tackle and beat crime without the wholehearted support, not only of hon. Members, but of everybody in society.
§ Mr. BudgenIn the light of the recent epic and historic reform of the common agricultural policy, will my right hon. Friend confirm that there will now be no need for any additional payments to the EEC?
§ The Prime MinisterI am glad that my hon. Friend is pleased with the work done by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who has been quite outstanding in his skilful piloting of the latest Agriculture Council and the Fisheries Council. I hope that what my hon. Friend says is true. I have not looked at all the details of the financial arrangements, but they are clearly designed substantially to reduce the cost of the common agricultural policy.
§ Mr. KinnockDoes the Prime Minister recall that at the time of her first Christmas in office 3½ million adults were on supplementary benefit and 1 million children were in families dependent on supplementary benefit? This Christmas over 5 million adults are in that position and over 2 million children are in families dependent on supplementary benefit. By any measure that is a huge increase in poverty. Is the Prime Minister not absolutely ashamed of her record?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is aware that supplementary benefit is meant to provide for those who are in need. Not only does it do so, but it does so on a more generous scale than under previous Governments. As he is aware, when supplementary benefit rises the number of people in poverty goes up—if that is his definition of poverty.
§ Mr. KinnockI wish that the right hon. Lady's reference to the rate of supplementary benefit was true, but unfortunately it is not. There are now more people in deeper poverty in Britain, and the rate of benefit has not kept pace with the cost of living for poor people. As a mother, what would the Prime Minister say to the mother of two who asked in the "Christmas on the Breadline" report:
How can you explain to a child who thinks that mum and dad can work miracles, that he cannot have something because there aren't enough pennies, or that Father Christmas has run out of toys?The right hon. Lady is usually generous with advice. What is her advice to that woman?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is wrong about supplementary benefit. Supplementary benefit has gone up—[HON. MEMBERS: "Scrooge".]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
§ The Prime MinisterSupplementary benefit is up by 6 per cent. over and above the rate of inflation and supplementary benefit scale rates for children under five years old have gone up by 29 per cent. over and above the rate of inflation. May I also remind—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
§ The Prime MinisterMay I also remind the right hon. Gentleman that 10 years ago this Christmas under Labour the old-age pensioners did not have a Christmas bonus?
§ Mr. KinnockThe Prime Minister has run away from giving advice to that poor family, but she has misled the House in her references. The facts are that the retail prices 1350 index has risen by 62.9 per cent., the cost of living for pensioners has risen five percentage points—3 per cent. in real terms—more than that, and for poor families, nine percentage points—5 per cent. in real terms—more than that. Will the right hon. Lady apologise not only to the poor but to the House as well?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary benefit is up about 6 per cent. in real terms at the July uprating and the rates for children under five and aged 11 to 12 increased by about 29 per cent. in real terms. Whatever the right hon. Gentleman says, we have done infinitely better than his Government in looking after those on supplementary benefit and infinitely better in letting all old-age pensioners have a Christmas bonus.