Engagements (Hansard, 20 July 1989)

§ Q5. Mr. Bendall
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 20 July.

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

§ Mr. Bendall
In view of the continued rail strike, and the inconvenience being caused to commuters, will the Government consider bringing in legislation to outlaw one-day strikes, such as other European countries are considering? What encouragement will the Government give to trade unions and employers to rationalise affairs so that there is one union for one industry?

§ The Prime Minister
I think that it is tragic that there has been no settlement in the rail dispute, especially as two unions accepted the award of the independent arbitration tribunal. Only one, the NUR, decided not to and prefers to put the public—the customers, who will retreat from using rail if they are treated like this—to great inconvenience once again.
We are looking at the possibility of further legislation and examining European legislation which usually includes some protection against unions in the public sector going on strike. European legislation and history tend to be very different from ours, but we are looking at it all to see whether we can learn something from it. With due respect, I do not think that it would make much difference to have only one union. It is much more complicated than that, but I hope to bring forward in the future any proposals that we may have.

§ Mr. Kinnock
May I congratulate the Prime Minister on the characteristic generosity that she showed yesterday by staying away from the poll tax statement so that her Secretary of State for the Environment——

Hon. Members
Where is he?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We have only three more minutes.

§ Mr. Kinnock
—sothat her Secretary of State could gain all the glory and the credit for himself? How does the Prime Minister think—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Mr. Kinnock.

§ Mr. Kinnock
How does the Prime Minister think she can duly reward the memorable performance of the Secretary of State in the very near future?

§ The Prime Minister
I note once again that the right hon. Gentleman resorts to personal criticism because he has neither the intellect nor the guts to ask a real question about the community charge which he knows will show up—when in operation—high-spending local authorities for what they are: extravagant expenders of taxpayers' money.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Can the Prime Minister show the intellect or the guts to say whether she thinks that those of her hon. Friends who are calling for the Secretary of State's rightful dismissal are wrong?

§ The Prime Minister
Once again the right hon. Gentleman resorts to personal abuse because he cannot do anything else. I have the greatest confidence in my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, and, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, the community charge is a way of asking people to pay for what they vote for, and when they do, they will vote against Labour authorities.

§ Q6. Mr. Neil Hamilton
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 20 July.

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

§ Mr. Hamilton
Is my right hon. Friend aware that more and more dockers are sensibly defying the strike leaders and returning to work? Is she aware that many former registered dockers have entered into new and more flexible 518 practices with the port employers, which will ensure prosperity for those ports and jobs for those dockers and many others? Does not their forward-looking behaviour contrast markedly with the last twitchings of bonehead trade unionism, as on the railways?

§ The Prime Minister
I agree that many dockers and most people are coming to realise that the end of the dock work labour scheme and that monopoly means a much more prosperous future for those ports and for the industries in the hinterland that they serve. Many dockers are steadily going back to work, and I hope that they will continue.
We have yet to know whether the Opposition will support the NUR, which did not follow the established procedures, does not think of the customers, or support those unions that wisely follow the established procedures and think more of their customers and of travellers than of themselves.