Engagements (Hansard, 16 February 1993)

§ Q5. Mr. Patrick Thompson
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 16 February.

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

§ Mr.Cryer
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. In view of that unsatisfactory and misleading answer, I reserve the right to raise the matter on the Adjournment.

§ Madam Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman may raise the matter again, but he had better withdraw the word "misleading".

§ Mr. Cryer
rose—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. I assure the hon. Gentleman that I heard the word. I am sure that he will rephrase it for me.

§ Mr. Cryer
I will withdraw the word "misleading" and say that he was economical with the truth.

§ Madam Speaker
Mr. Patrick Thompson.

§ Mr. Thompson
Is my right hon. Friend aware of representations from the police and local crime prevention panels, including the panel in Norwich, about the increased number of serious crimes committed by young people, some out on bail? Some individuals commit literally hundreds of offences. Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that the Government are determined to tackle that horrendous problem?

§ The Prime Minister
I will offer that assurance to my hon. Friend. There is a small hard core of persistent young offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, most notably property crime, especially car theft. In the past society has sometimes perhaps been too quick to understand and too slow to condemn. I doubt whether that helps the young people concerned. It is time to crack down on those young offenders. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary will shortly make proposals to do just that.

§ Q6. Dr. Reid
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 16 February.

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

§ Dr. Reid
With reference to the Prime Minister's earlier answer on the question of Maastricht, may I inform him that this morning I had the pleasure of showing round the House of Commons a group of pupils from Brannock high school in my constituency? Having spoken of 1,000 years of Parliament and several hundred years of parliamentary 132 sovereignty, I was asked a simple question by one of the pupils: "But what good is Parliament if the Prime Minister can ignore it when he chooses?" How would the Prime Minister have responded to that question?

§ The Prime Minister
He would have said, "I can't, and I don't."

§ Mr. Hawkins
Will my right hon. Friend accept the congratulations of literally thousands of my constituents who work at British Aerospace on the Tornado line for the work that he did in personally securing the contract? Will he further accept that my constituents know that they have him and the Conservative party to thank for securing their future in the defence industry and the future of their families? Unlike the Labour party, which whinges and whines, my right hon. Friend goes out and gets jobs for Britain.

§ The Prime Minister
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for that endorsement. The Tornado is undoubtedly a fine aircraft and I hope that we shall be able to export many more.