§ Q1 Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 28 November.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major)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. FieldI congratulate my right hon. Friend on the anniversary of his Prime Ministership. May I remind him that inflation has come down from 10.9 to 3.7 per cent., that interest rates have been cut by 4.5 percentage points and that we have the lowest level of inflation for 25 years—below that of west Germany. Is not that in marked contrast to the events of 25 years ago this very day, as reported by The Times, when the then Economic Affairs Minister warned the Confederation of British Industry that if it breached the inflation-wage restraint, there would be a prices and incomes policy? It brought the worst economic turmoil that this country had seen since the industrial revolution. Will my right hon. Friend set out his policy for 1992—[interruption]—so that I can congratulate him on his anniversary again next year, when he will still be Prime Minister?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. He is right about the success of the anti-inflationary policy. It is absolutely imperative that we get inflation down to the lowest level and keep it there, for most of our future prospects depend on that being the case. Happily, we are making excellent progress on inflation. It has come down and we shall ensure that it stays down.
§ Mr. KinnockIs the Prime Minister aware that in the past 12 months, because of his policies, 768,000 people have lost their jobs, 100,000 people have lost their homes and 45,000 companies have gone bankrupt? How does he square that record with his promise a year ago today to build a country at ease with itself?
§ The Prime MinisterIf the right hon. Gentleman examines completely what has happened during the past year with that objective in mind, he will find that not only have we cut inflation, as I have just said, but we have cut interest rates. We have given Britain the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe. We have successfully come through a war. We have successfully produced a new initiative for the Kurds which has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. We have introduced the largest debt relief package anywhere 1064 at any stage and we have made changes in both domestic and overseas policies which command the wide respect of people throughout the country.
§ Mr. KinnockIs not it clear that everyone knows that the Prime Minister has reduced inflation only by creating a deep and lasting recession? The right hon. Gentleman has lost more jobs, more businesses and more homes than any Prime Minister in modern history. He truly will be known as the Prime Minister of evictions, unemployment and bankruptcies and that is why, as soon as the people get the chance at the next general election, they will stop him.
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman cannot seriously expect that the people of this country will buy the pig-in-a-poke policies that he produces. Now that inflation and interest rates are coming down, the economy is moving into an upturn and prospects are getting better, as even the Labour party's former adviser has agreed and written repeatedly in the newspapers.
§ Mr. KinnockIf there are any pig-in-a-poke policies, the recession policies of the Government are the pig and 768,000 people have got the poke.
§ The Prime MinisterI can only assume that the right hon. Gentleman's last question was a knee-jerk reaction.