HC Deb 17 October 1989 vol 158 cc14-20
Q1. Mrs. Margaret Ewing

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Sir Geoffrey Howe)

I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Mrs. Ewing

In view of the current crisis in the Scottish fishing industry, may I ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman to explain why the Government are steadfastly refusing to invoke the mechanisms that exist to give access to European Community funding for a temporary lay-up scheme and for longer-term decommissioning schemes? Or is it the Government's intention to allow that noble industry and the thousands of jobs that depend on it to be forced into sequestration and bankruptcy through savage quotas, soaring interest rates and Government inertia?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I—indeed, the whole Government —understand the hon. Lady's anxiety about the problems facing the Scottish fishing industry. We are urgently considering the measures that are needed to deal with the situation, but as she will appreciate in relation to laying-up and decommissioning schemes, one needs to be sure that they would be more effective and provide better value for money than alternative approaches.

Mr. Hanley

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that while high interest rates may be welcome to many depositors, particularly the elderly, they are difficult for many borrowers and in some cases are absolutely disastrous? Nevertheless, does he agree that the battle against inflation, which affects 100 per cent. of people in this country, is even more important?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend's last point. He is right to draw attention to the fact that high interest rates not merely discourage borrowing but encourage saving, which is in itself advantageous. But far more important than that, they are a crucial instrument in the fight against inflation.

Mr. Kinnock

Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman explain how he expects families with an average mortgage to cope with repayments that have increased in the last year by £90 a month?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The right hon. Gentleman should understand well that high interest rates have been used, and are an essential instrument, in the battle against inflation. They were used by the Government whom he supported, although he was not a member of that Government, and it must be said that the inflation rate achieved by that Government reached a pinnacle of 27 per cent., which was far more than anything else disastrous to mortgage payers.

Mr. Kinnock

As the right hon. and learned Gentleman obviously cannot answer the question that I asked, may I ask him to say for how long mortgage payers must go on paying huge monthly sums simply to foot the bill left to them by the incompetence of the Government's policies.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has made plain that interest rates will have to remain at the level that is necessary for so long as is necessary to achieve success against inflation. I emphasise and repeat that that is of far greater importance than the immediate short-term hardship and consequence of paying high interest rates —[Interruption.] The experience of the last Labour Government demonstrated plainly that if there is one enemy of home ownership as well as of saving and living standards it is the enemy of inflation. We are determined to succeed in the battle against inflation.

Sir Antony Buck

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one reason why our right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is listened to with such care and attention in Kuala Lumpur is that she, alone of party leaders in this House, is backed by a party which believes in a strong, consistent and comprehensible defence policy?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have no doubt that my hon. and learned Friend is right in that respect. One sure way of diminishing the respect for the Prime Minister of this country would be for her to be supported by the defence policies of the Labour party.

Mr. Ashdown

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman believe that it is mere coincidence that the average level of inflation for countries outside full membership of the European monetary system is double that for those inside it? How much longer will pensioners, mortgage holders and industry have to pay for the Prime Minister's lonely obsession with keeping Britain out of the EMS and keeping in her own hands the power to fiddle the economy for electoral purposes?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have made the view of the Government entirely clear and as the Chancellor stated in an interview last week: The Prime Minister expressed the view of the Government and that is very clear. There is just one Government view—that is the view of the EMS which the Prime Minister expressed at the time of the Madrid European Council. We are committed to joining the exchange rate mechanism of the EMS and she explained the circumstances. There is no change on that.

Mr. Ian Taylor

Does my right hon. and learned Friend welcome the announcement by six police forces that they are combining to act against the outrageous acid house parties that have been taking place in constituencies including mine? Will he ensure that the Government's proposals to assist the police are brought forward as soon as possible?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

As a fellow Member for a Surrey constituency I share my hon. Friend's concern that there should be effective action against such events. I assure my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is looking at the matter with the utmost urgency and that he will bring forward whatever proposals are necessary.

Q3. Mr. Gareth Wardell

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Wardell

While accepting that part of Britain's leisure class who sit on the Conservative Benches are basking in the luxury of high interest rates for their idle balances, does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the majority of home owners and industrialists in Britain would derive some comfort from Britain joining the EMS rather than seeing the daily spectacle of the Chancellor of the Exchequer clinging desperately to the rate of interest like a dead man clings to a live electric wire?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

Let me reaffirm our total concern and understanding of the burdens imposed by high interest rates, but our recognition of the fact that success against inflation is not possible if one rules out high interest rates. It is for that reason that we are sustaining the policies presently in place. We have also reaffirmed, as the Prime Minister did after the Madrid European Council, our intention to join the exchange rate mechanism, the ERM —we are already members of the EMS—but, among the other things my right hon. Friend emphasised, we must first get our inflation down.

Q4. Mr. Stern

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Stern

Will my right hon. and learned Friend join me in welcoming the ready acceptance by the General Dentists Services Council of its new contract? Does he share my hope that doctors will quickly recognise the advantages of the new contracts to them and their patients?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

Clearly, the whole House will welcome the agreement by the representatives of the dental profession to their new contract. Like the contract proposed for the general practitioners, it sets out to reward the hardest working who provide services that patients need. The general practitioners have always accepted the need for a new contract from next April, because the current one is some 25 years old. That contract is also in the patients' interests. It encourages preventive medicine, provides more services for the elderly, ensures the greater availability of doctors, and makes it easier for patients to choose their own GPs. We very much hope—and I hope that the whole House will join me in this—that GPs will be ready to accept their new contract in the same spirit as the dental profession.

Q5. Ms. Ruddock

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Ms. Ruddock

What advice has the Lord President for people on income support, as it is calculated that they need to spend 40 to 50 per cent. of their disposable income on food in order to eat a healthy diet? Why have the Government suppressed the Health Education Authority report which proves that to be the case?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The simplest advice to those on income support as well as to other citizens is to continue supporting the present Government who have secured high and rising living standards for the population as a whole, who have ensured that those living standards are shared by those on income support and who have secured an increase in total social security spending of more than one third during their time in office. All those successes would be cast away if the people on income support were to neglect the advice that I have offered.

Mr. Atkinson

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that as more than one third of the Commonwealth member states deny human rights, it would be hypocritical for them to seek to pursue further sanctions against South Africa this week? Will he convey to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister that the Commonwealth should seek to put its own house in order first?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

My hon. Friend will understand that the Commonwealth has frequently adopted standards which it sets itself and seeks to achieve in relation to human rights. I am sure that my right hon. Friend will remind the Commonwealth of those at the conference in Kuala Lumpur. I entirely agree with what my hon. Friend says about the futility of urging further sanctions against South Africa at present, when we see evidence from what is happening in South Africa that changes are taking place there. I cannot imagine a more futile time to step up sanctions than the present.

Q6. Mr. Eastham

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Eastham

May I inform the Leader of the House that yesterday I visited my local optician for an eye test? The young woman advised me that, during this Session, eye tests have gone down by 30 per cent. and in some of the worst areas, by 70 per cent. Already opticians are noting the deterioration in the condition of many people's eyes. May I therefore ask the Leader of the House how long it will be before the Government decide to relent on this policy, make some changes and revert it back to the National Health Service as it should be?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I must confess that it defies belief that observations of the kind that the hon. Gentleman reports should be made so soon after the changes of which he complains. I must remind him that if we were to follow the advice of the Labour party and remove all those instruments that have been introduced for increasing efficiency in the Health Service and all the charges currently in place, the Health Service would be some £1¼ billion worse off, to its great disadvantage.

Q8. Mr. Janman

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Janman

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the finding of several guns and a nail bomb at the acid house party that took place over the weekend in my constituency adds a sinister new twist to the saga of acid house parties? Can he give the House and the country an assurance today that the Government will take effective but measured action to ensure that in future these parties will not be able to take place in the ad hoc and covert manner that they do today?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to that aspect of that party, but it is worth remembering that the party was largely frustrated by prompt and effective action by police forces. That has been the experience with a growing number of cases in several of the home counties. We should pay tribute to the police authorities for the success that they are already achieving. I shall certainly see that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary takes account of the additional points that my hon. friend makes in relation to future conduct.

Q9. Ms. Short

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 17 October.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I have been asked to reply.

I have nothing to add to the reply that I gave a few moments ago.

Ms. Short

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the problems that we have with the balance of payments and with inflation are very serious? Speaking on behalf of the Government, as he is today, will he accept responsibility for the errors of economic management that have brought this about?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The hon. Lady must acknowledge that there have been substantial successes in Government policy, including sustained success against inflation. The present level of inflation was only once bettered during the five years of Labour Government. We have sustained eight years of continuous economic growth, surpassing all records in manufacturing investment, output and other economic indicators. We are determined to maintain those successes. That is why we are determined to maintain the balance and thrust of our present economic policy.