HC Deb 03 June 1991 vol 192 cc13-5
28. Mr. Simon Coombs

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next intends to visit the Duchy to discuss with tenants the income of the Duchy.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Chris Patten)

I very much look forward to my next visit to the Duchy. However I do not expect to discuss Duchy income levels with tenants.

Mr. Coombs

Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that, at a time of steadily reducing interest rates, tenants in the Duchy who are small business owners are faced with increases in the amount they have to pay for bank loans? Has my right hon. Friend received any representations on that matter from tenants in the Duchy? Does he have any ideas to put before the House, now or in future, that might alleviate the problems of small businesses?

Mr. Patten

I shall certainly draw my hon. Friend's views to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was able to offer a few views on that important subject on a well-known television programme yesterday morning. I am sure that ray right hon. Friend, were he at the Dispatch Box, would say that in the implausible event of a Labour Government, interest rates would be a great deal higher due to the risk premium of socialist policies.

29. Mr. Burns

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next proposes to visit the Duchy on official business.

Mr. Chris Patten

I have no plans to visit the Duchy estates in the immediate future.

Mr. Burns

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. When he draws up his programme for future visits to the Duchy, will he specifically include a visit to Ribble Valley and, once there, judge the extent—although I accept that it will be extremely difficult for him—to which voters are more aware of Liberal Democrat policies?

Mr. Patten

As my hon. Friend knows from his successful experience in Chelmsford, very few people seem to know what Liberal Democrat policies amount to, as that party customarily stands for a sort of a sanctimonious popularism, which means that its members are in favour of whatever they think is immediately popular on the side of town where they are standing for office. I hope that more people in the Ribble Valley, as elsewhere in the country, will now know that two things for which the Liberals certainly stand are higher income tax and a 50 per cent. cut in our defence programme.

Dr. Cunningham

When the Chancellor of the Duchy goes to the north-west, will he accept that people there are far more at risk from the failed policies of the Conservative Government than from anything that the Liberal Democrats may have to offer? Will he tell those in the north-west—the 8,000 people who lost their jobs in April alone, the 745 companies which went into liquidation in the first three months of this year and the 606 companies that went bankrupt this year—whether he shares the view of the Chancellor of the Exchequer that that is a price well worth paying?

Mr. Patten

I would certainly point out to anyone in the north-west to whom I was fortunate enough to speak that there had been a 16 per cent. increase in the number of businesses in the north-west since 1979. I should also point out that unemployment would be higher if there were such a thing as a Labour Government, because of the national minimum wage—a well known fact. I would also point out that interest rates would be higher because of the risk premium of a Labour Government, and that taxes on everyone would be a great deal higher too.

30. Mr. Viggers

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next expects to visit the Duchy to meet tenants and employees to discuss the taxation and income of the Duchy.

Mr. Chris Patten

I shall be meeting Duchy tenants next month, although, as I said earlier, I do not envisage discussing taxation or Duchy income levels.

Mr. Viggers

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. When next he has a chance to move as a popular Chancellor among his grateful tenantry does he anticipate receiving from them expressions of concern of the sort that I receive in my constituency about the fact that it is now official Labour party policy to cut defence expenditure by about £9 billion—and that that is likely to cost thousands of jobs, including thousands of jobs in Lancashire?

Mr. Patten

My hon. Friend is of course entirely correct to point out that Labour party conferences have consistently voted for cuts of one third in our defence budget. I understand that they would amount to about £9 billion. We know very well that Labour's cuts in our conventional defences, as well as its unilateralism, would lead to job cuts in the north-west and elsewhere in the country and to the undermining of our security.