§ Q4. Mr. Tim SmithTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 2 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. SmithIs my right hon. Friend aware that, according to Trevor Clay, RCN members are being manipulated and intimidated by extreme Left-wingers, that strike vote meetings are being held which have no constitutional basis inside a union, and that at University College hospital RCN members were challenged by pickets at the door to state their points of view? Does not this despicable behaviour on the part of the hard Left show that they have no interest in the welfare either of the nurses or of the patients, but are cynically using both to further their own political ends?
§ The Prime MinisterI find it astonishing that some of the nurses' unions should attempt to use a strike weapon at a time when there is a pay review body—which was 852 given to the nurses because they did not go on strike—sitting to consider how much they should be paid. I find it even more astonishing that right hon. and hon. Members of the Opposition do not utterly condemn the intimidatory tactics that Mr. Trevor Clay reported upon.
§ Mr. BeithWhat was yesterday's half per cent. rise in interest rates meant to signal, and to whom? Was it a warning that the Budget is going to be highly inflationary rather than one that will tackle the problems that have occupied the House this afternoon?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that, as usual, the hon. Gentleman has got his economics upside down. The half per cent. increase in interest rates was decided on because we are determined to keep inflation down and not let it go up, as did the Government whom he supported.
§ Q5. Mr. ThorneTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 2 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. ThorneDoes my right hon. Friend not consider it hypocritical of those trade union leaders in the National Health Service who have criticised waiting lists in the Health Service in the past to encourage their members to go on strike now, thereby considerably lengthen waiting lists, to the detriment of patients and everybody else?
§ The Prime MinisterAll those who are interested in giving a better service to patients and shortening waiting lists must condemn the strike activities that we are witnessing now. Not only will they increase waiting lists, but they will put an increasing burden on people in organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, who will not leave their posts. We should all be very grateful to the nurses who put the patients first.