§ Q1. Mr. HaynesTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 9 November.
§ 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. HaynesIn the shambles of the privatisation of nuclear energy, who should take the blame? Should it be the advisers who advise or the Ministers who decide?
§ The Prime Ministerrose—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This takes up a lot of time.
§ The Prime MinisterIf there were a shambles, that question would arise. As there is not, it does not.
§ Q2. Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 9 November.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. JonesDoes my right hon. Friend agree that it is an intrinsic part of Conservative philosophy to conserve our environment and our heritage? Further, does my right hon. Friend accept that all those who are concerned with preserving the rain forests will applaud the practical lead that she has given towards that end?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree with my hon. Friend that the Government have given a lead in tackling the problems of climate change. In particular, we have given a lead in our aid programme for conserving the forests, especially in Brazil, where, through my right hon. Friend who is now the Secretary of State for the Environment, we signed the first such agreement between an industrial country and a country with tropical forests. We have also signed one with India. I was able to announce at the United Nations the earmarking of £100 million under our tropical forest action programme. That is good news, both for developing countries and for the developed world.
§ Mr. KinnockWhat is the Prime Minister's answer to the question put to her and her colleagues by Brighton ambulance man Brian Murray, holder of the British Empire Medal, who asked: "Why do they have such short, ungrateful memories?"
§ The Prime MinisterWe have great gratitude to the ambulance men. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, through the Whitley council they were offered a 6.5 per cent. increase backdated to April and in London 9.3 per cent., backdated to April, both of which would amount to quite a considerable small lump sum if it were taken now. They had also reached an agreement on 24 October about how to run the emergency services. We very much regret that that agreement is not being honoured. It was fully agreed between management and people.
§ Mr. KinnockIf the Prime Minister is so confident of the case, why does she not let Mr. Murray and his colleagues go to arbitration? Does she recognise that to lavish praise on ambulance people at the time of a disaster and then to stop them going to arbitration is gross hypocrisy?
§ The Prime MinisterNo. This is negotiated through the Whitley council. It was negotiated through the Whitley council and was recommended for acceptance.
§ Mr. LeighWhen my right hon. Friend completed her interview with Mr. Brian Walden, did she receive any complaints from the programme staff about the fact that the Leader of the Opposition had wriggled out of giving 1158 his interview? When she was Leader of the Opposition, did she ever fear to have her intellectual competence questioned?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman knows that he must ask a question on which the Prime Minister has ministerial responsibility.
§ Q3. Mr. BellTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 9 November.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. BellDuring the course of her busy day, would the Prime Minister take time to read yesterday's Evening Standard headline:
Thatcher's Plan to Save The World"?Will she kindly tell the House, in the scheme of things, what ambassadorship she would offer the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson), what post she would offer the deputy leader of the Tory party, the deputy Prime Minister, the right hon. and learned Member for Surrey, East (Sir G. Howe), and what are her plans for the universe?
§ The Prime MinisterPerhaps the hon. Gentleman would do me the courtesy of reading the speech.
§ Dame Elaine Kellett-BowmanI thank my right hon. Friend for persuading our right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to listen to the pleas of Andrew Gorst, a 14-year-old pupil at Ripley St. Thomas in my constituency, who keeps 48 hens and has some very satisfied customers. He would have had to pay as much as someone with 10,000 hens but now he will pay at a very reduced rate. I should like to say "Thank you very much" to my right hon. Friend.
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am sure my right hon. Friend the Minister deserves all the compliments for listening to the case of a small farmer and taking the requisite action.
§ Mr. McGradyDoes the Prime Minister agree that her announcement in New York yesterday of £5.5 million for environmental research is a poor substitute for the £33 million that she withdrew from the natural environment research council in February this year? That affected 160 scientists, 41 of whom are involved in research into ozone and the glowing heat effect. Will she reinstate that budget?
§ The Prime MinisterThe grant allocated to the natural environment research council by the advisory board for all research councils was put up, having regard to the importance of the work of the British Antarctic Survey, to the importance of the world experiment on the circulation of the oceans—we shall take part in that—and to the need to put more into satellite work on monitoring climate change.
§ Mr. GaleCan my right hon. Friend think of any circumstances in which it might be proper to take industrial action against the sick, the disabled and the infirm? Can she think of any occasion on which such action has been condemned by the Leader of the Opposition?
§ The Prime MinisterIt is always a matter of great regret and concern if strike action is taken against the sick and the infirm, particularly when there was an agreement on 24 1159 October with regard to accident and emergency services which is not now being operated. We must also bear in mind that nine out of 10 miles done by the ambulance service are not for accidents and emergencies but to get people to hospital, whether as in-patients or out-patients. Most of those non-emergency people are managing excellently to get themselves to hospital. But that does not alter the main point of my hon. Friend's question—that action should not be taken against the sick.
§ Q4. Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 9 November.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. McCartneyWhen the chairman of the Conservative party recently said that the former Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson), had resigned because of long-standing serious differences with the Prime Minister on economic policy, was he telling the truth?
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing further to add to the statements that I made at the Dispatch Box last week.