Engagements (Hansard, 19 May 1988)

§ Q1. Mr. Ray Powell
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 19 May.

§ 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. Powell
Will the Prime Minister reflect on the reception that she received last Saturday at Hampden park? Does she now realise that some of her decisions are even worse than the referee's? Last Tuesday, when she replied to my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr. Bidwell), she stated that everyone in the country had enjoyed increased prosperity. Will she explain why, in 1979, my constituents in Ogmore were employed in the steel works and in the mines and were earning £150 to £240 a week, whereas many are now on the dole and have been unemployed for five years, as have 2 million others? How can she say that they are enjoying increased prosperity?

§ The Prime Minister
The answers to the parts of the question that I was able to hear are, first, that I very much enjoyed the game at Hampden park and the visit to the flower festival in the morning, and we had an excellent conference the night before. Secondly, everyone has participated in the increased prosperity. Average earnings are very much up, taxation is very much down, personal allowances are very much increased, social security benefits have increased enormously and so have the health services.

§ Mr. Stokes
Will my right hon. Friend consider whether any action can be taken against the BBC and ITV for their attitude towards the security forces in the fight against terrorism? Would any other country tolerate such behaviour, and is not their action a stab in the back for the nation?

§ The Prime Minister
As my hon. Friend is very well aware, if there are any complaints they should be made, not to me, but to the BBC complaints authority or to the chairman.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Is the Prime Minister satisfied with the effect on the pound/deutschmark rate of the interest rate—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. It takes up a lot of time.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Is the Prime Minister satisfied with the effect on the pound/deutschmark rate of the interest rate cut on Tuesday?

§ The Prime Minister
I made a very comprehensive statement on Tuesday. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to know the unwisdom of asking direct questions about the exchange rate, he should see what happened when certain Labour Back Benchers, who later became Front Benchers, asked such questions of—as they are now—Lord Wilson and Lord Callaghan. It was absolutely catastrophic. I have nothing to add to the statement that I made on Tuesday.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Now perhaps the Prime Minister will give us the answer. Is she satisfied that D 3.17 to the pound is sustainable, or unsustainable?

§ The Prime Minister
I have nothing further to add. I commend to the right hon. Gentleman the references that I made. He will learn a great deal from them.

§ Mr. William Powell
Now that we have seen yet another substantial fall in unemployment as a result of the Government's policies, will my right hon. Friend reflect on the fact that it was in March 1979 that the closure of Corby steel works was announced and 8,000 people lost their jobs in my constituency? Today, the number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Corby town has fallen below 2,000 for the first time.

§ The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. Friend. Corby is an excellent example of a town undergoing the necessary reconstruction of a major industry and having the enterprise to find new jobs for the people there, and a new prosperity. I congratulate my hon. Friend.

§ Q2. Mr. Fisher
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 19 May.

§ The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

§ Mr. Fisher
In reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell) the Prime Minister referred to income tax being very much lower. How does she justify the fact that as a direct result of the tax loopholes and tax advantages that her Government have created, a 51-year-old man earning £1 million a year can apparently pay no income tax? How is that a fair tax system, and what will she do to close those loopholes?

§ The Prime Minister
Under the new tax system those at the top of the scale pay a bigger proportion of the total amount than they did previously. I commend to the hon. Gentleman the speech of the New Zealand Socialist Minister for Finance, who has now made the top rate of tax 33p in the pound. One of the reasons for that is that he believes it is good for the people at the bottom of the pile to have a higher standard of living.