Engagements (Hansard, 2 July 1991)

§ Q1. Mr. Harry Ewing
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 2 July.

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major)
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

§ Mr. Ewing
Is the Prime Minister aware that the prospectuses for PowerGen and other privatised industries say that Her Majesty's Government do not expect to use their shareholding to vote on resolutions before the annual general meetings of those companies, but—this is the important point—that they reserve the right to do so? Will the Prime Minister, for once, act decisively, do as he did in the case of the chairmen of the banks and call in the chairmen and chief executives of all the privatised industries and make it clear to them that he will use the power given to him in the prospectus to intervene and stop the obscene salary increases that they are granting to themselves—or is this yet another example of all talk, all dither and no action?

§ The Prime Minister
I have made clear my view on the large increases on a number of occasions. I have also made it clear that the freedom given in the prospectus is not to be used in that fashion. The hon. Gentleman has been told that before and I reiterate it now.

§ Mrs. Roe
Will my right hon. Friend take time today to look into the effect on the employment of women of implementing the provisions in the social charter which relate to part-time work? Will not the social charter, which is fully supported by the Labour party, destroy job opportunities for women and restrict the flexibility of part-time work from which so many women benefit?

§ The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. Friend. We are able to support parts of the social charter, but the draft directions on part-time work would add substantially to the cost to British industry and, in so doing, cost the jobs of many people.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Is the Prime Minister still certain that, as he promised just two weeks ago, Britain will come out of recession in the second half of this year?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes, I still believe that we will see the economy move out of recession during the second half of this year. That view is echoed by a number of independent commentators and I see no reason to revise our previous forecasts.

§ Mr. Kinnock
The engineering employers, steel makers, car manufacturers and retailers are all telling the Government in clear terms that the serious losses of jobs, output and capacity will continue for the rest of this year and even into 1992 and beyond. What evidence does the Prime Minister have to demonstrate that those people, who certainly live in the real world, are wrong?

§ The Prime Minister
As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the latest CBI survey is precisely in line with the Red Book forecasts, which show that the economy will come out of recession in the second half of this year. The right hon. Gentleman will have seen that the G7 Finance Ministers agreed that the world economy was moving out of recession and back into growth. The impact of that will certainly assist our recovery in the second half of this year.

§ Mr. Kinnock
As for the forecasts of recovery from the world recession, can the right hon. Gentleman tell us which other major industrial country has had a zero-minus-growth rate this year—[Interruption.] Under the policies of this Government—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Interruptions take a lot of time.

§ Mr. Kinnock
Under the policies of this Government, a zero growth rate would be an improvement.
Can the Prime Minister tell us which other major industrialised country has has a growth rate of minus 2 per cent. this year? What sort of recovery can the right hon. Gentleman look forward to, when every manufacturer in Britain clearly records a loss of capacity and of confidence that have eroded the British manufacturing base for the second time in 10 years?

§ The Prime Minister
As for the long-term strength of British industry, the right hon. Gentleman should read the recent comment by the director general of the CBI. He said: Virtually everything associated with our manufacturing base is better today than it was in the so-called 'golden era"' to which so many people look back fondly. The director general was right—that was the era of strikes, loss of delivery, lost market shares and Labour.

§ Sir Ian Lloyd
My right hon. Friend will doubtless have had reported to him the serious news that the Japanese research and development total exceeded £9 billion for the first time last month. Of that sum, £1.5 billion is spent by the five largest semiconductor firms in Japan, exceeding the total research and development expenditure on semiconductors of the United States and western Europe. Had this matter been considered by the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology, which my right hon. Friend chairs? If it has, does that committee share the views of the congressional committee on semiconductor dependency about the serious implications that that has for the defence and the industrial base of the western world?

§ The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend rightly makes the point that the huge research and development in the private sector has brought about the remarkable improvement in Japanese productivity in recent years. I shall chair a meeting of ACOST in the near future and I expect that that is one of the matters that we shall discuss.

§ Q2. Mr. Nellist
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 2 July.

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

§ Mr. Nellist
Is the Prime Minister aware that 16-year-olds on youth training have had their allowance frozen at £29.50 for several years and that, had their allowance risen since 1978 in line with average earnings, it would be £68.60 today? How does the Prime Minister think that those youngsters feel when they again read reports in the press that the heads of newly privatised industries such as PowerGen are awarding themselves pay rises of up to 163 per cent? Does the right hon. Gentleman think that those youngsters are worth so much less than Mr. Wallis?

§ The Prime Minister
As I said a few moments ago, I have made my opinion on these large increases perfectly clear. As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, we have a more substantial employment package for young people than this country has ever had and it was added to just a fortnight ago by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.