Engagements (Hansard, 20 March 1990)

§ Q3. Mr. Douglas
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 20 March.

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

§ Mr. Douglas
Has the right hon. Lady had any time today to examine her conscience? I take it that she has responsibility for that. If she has done so, will she compare and contrast the position before the law of the Fayeds, who were able to lie and cheat to acquire substantial assets, with that of the poorer sections of the population in my constituency and other areas who, if they cannot afford to pay the poll tax—and many cannot—will be visited by state-sponsored violence in the form of poinding and warrant sales? How does that square with the right hon. Lady's conscience?

§ The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman is fully aware that if people cannot afford to pay the poll tax they will receive a community charge rebate, and an additional 20 per cent. if they are on income support, to enable them to pay the rest. That is being paid for in full by the taxpayer because many Labour authorities have overspent. The overspending by local authorities is in the order of £3 billion, and the taxpayer will be paying an extra £700 million towards community charge rebate to ensure that people do not suffer from the extravagances of Labour authorities.

§ Mr. Holt
Would my right hon. Friend care to know that tomorrow morning, when the people of Middlesbrough receive their community charge bill, no fewer than 24,660 of them will be in receipt of transitional relief—an average of £48 per household—at a cost of £1.2 million to the Exchequer? That type of relief is available in many parts of the country where there are low-rated houses. It is automatic and not means-tested.

§ The Prime Minister
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. There are two types of relief—the community charge rebate, which is means tested, and the transitional relief, which is not means tested. I understand that most of the bills that have gone out so far have included the amount of rebate that the community charge payer will receive, and also the transitional relief. That has enabled them not to be worried about a charge that otherwise might have caused them some concern.

§ Q4. Mr. Alton
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 20 March.

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

§ Mr. Alton
With Estonia about to follow Lithuania in demanding the right to self-determination, will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to emphasise to President Landsbergis and to President Gorbachev our country's commitment to the Baltic peoples' right to self-determination in the face of sabre-rattling and intimidation? Will she commend the people of the Baltic states for their courage and resolve?

§ The Prime Minister
As the hon. Gentleman is aware, we have never recognised the legal annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We recognise especially that Lithuania has expressed the wish to determine her own future. We hope that the position will be satisfactorily resolved between those who express that wish and President Gorbachev—so that the people of Lithuania may have their wish.

§ Mr. David Evans
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the community charge, or service charge as it is known in Welwyn Hatfield, is a bargain, as only 25 per cent. is paid by each individual towards its cost? Is not a 75 per cent. discount a bargain?

§ The Prime Minister
Where local authorities are spending to the amount that the Government consider to be reasonable, their community charges are usually reasonable. If people cannot afford to pay, they will get rebates. The community charge has brought relief to many people who live alone, who were paying high rates and who now, for the first time, have fairness and justice in paying only one community charge, which is often a good deal lower than the amount of rates that they would otherwise pay—[Interruption.]—as is clear from many letters in The Times in recent months on this subject.

§ Q5. Mr. Salmond
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 20 March.

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

§ Mr. Salmond
Is the Prime Minister aware that the Government have suffered yet another opinion poll setback in Scotland, this time from a BBC pre-Budget survey of Scotland's top 200 companies showing that only a quarter of them believe that the Government are sympathetic to Scottish interests? Is the right hon. Lady aware that that means that Scotland's top companies have joined the rest of the community in concluding that the Government's economic policy in general and the Budget this afternoon in particular will be dictated by economic conditions in the south of England without reference to the needs of the rest of the country?

§ The Prime Minister
This Government, like our Conservative predecessors, have looked after the needs of Scotland particularly well. We are well aware of the pride of Scotland and how much the Scottish people consider everything Scottish, and therefore we have given them far more per head in expenditure than has been given to England and Wales.
I looked at recent polls on the economy. A recent one in The Independent made it clear that twice as many voters would expect the economy to be weaker under Labour, that twice as many people would expect taxes to go up under Labour, and that twice as many people would expect prices to rise faster under Labour. That was a very good write-up for Conservative Government.