HC Deb 27 January 1992 vol 202 cc698-9
31. Mr. Bowis

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next intends to visit the duchy.

Mr. Chris Patten

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) some moments ago.

Mr. Bowis

When my right hon. Friend is next in the duchy, will he make a point of meeting the management and employees of Coats Viyella and reassuring them that under the Conservative party in government there will be no question of a national minimum wage and that it will not be necessary for them to consider moving 10,000 employees—one third of its work force—to jobs abroad? However, to keep those jobs here, we must have a Conservative Government.

Mr. Patten

I noticed that the chief executive of Coats Viyella was quoted yesterday in one newspaper as saying that—

Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman

And Ford.

Mr. Patten

I will return to Ford, if I get the opportunity—which I hope will now be afforded me.

The chief executive of Coats Viyella said that he thought that there were 10,000 jobs at risk in his firm from the Labour party's proposals for a statutory minimum wage. Many of those jobs are in the north-west. I noticed also that the chief executive of Courtauld's said that the Labour party's proposals for a statutory minimum wage would lead to big job losses. We all know that Labour's proposals for a statutory minimum wage would have devastating consequences for job prospects right across our country. I guess that in referring to that issue in the past few weeks we have been guilty of understating the size of the problem.

Mr. Enright

When the—

Hon. Members

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Mr. Tony Banks

It is a non-job anyway.

Mr. Enright

I nearly called him the chairman of the Tory party—I apologise.

When the Chancellor next visits the Duchy of Lancaster, will he kindly explain why the Government are cheating on the RECHAR money and thus depriving the coalfields of Lancashire and Yorkshire of funds that are rightly theirs? As the Chancellor's friends should know, the Government have been warned every year—from the days of Mr. Vredeling until the present time—that additionality is essential, and that this country is breaking the rules.

Mr. Patten

I observed the way in which the Commissioner concerned applied the rules when he was Secretary of State for Scotland.

I shall take great pleasure in saying to those to whom the hon. Gentleman wishes me to speak—here comes the opportunity that I mentioned earlier—that, as the chairman of Ford in Britain observed yesterday, Labour's economic policies would prove suicidal for our economy.

32. Mr. John Marshall

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he will next visit the county palatine.

Mr. Chris Patten

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) some moments ago.

Mr. Marshall

When my right hon. Friend next visits the duchy, will he point out that under our NHS reforms a record number of patients are being treated there by a record number of doctors and nurses, and that waiting lists are falling? Will he also point out that the only threat to the progress being made in the duchy comes from those who propose the introduction of a national minimum wage, and the abolition of competitive tendering and charging in the NHS? Taken together, those measures would cost the NHS £1 billion.

Mr. Patten

I could not have put it better myself, so perhaps I should not try. I shall confine myself to mentioning that under the present Government NHS spending has increased as a proportion of gross domestic product. I hope that even at this late stage Labour will support the GPs' contract, GP fundholding and NHS trust status for hospitals, all of which are proving so successful.