Engagements (Hansard, 10 March 1994)

§ Q1. Mr. McFall
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.

§ 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. McFall
Now that the Minister for open government has given an entirely new meaning to the phrase, "lying in state", does the Prime Minister agree that the democratic process is undermined if Ministers imply that concealing the truth from the House is acceptable? Does he accept that it is a lie that the former Prime Minister, Lord Callaghan, ever lied to this House? If so, will he apologise to the former distinguished Prime Minister for that slur?

§ The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman may regret, on reflection, the way in which he phrased his question—[Interruption] If hon. Members do not regret it, I believe that they should. The hon. Gentleman knows very well that it is not the case now, nor has it been in the past, that Ministers willingly mislead this House, and no one has suggested that that is the case.

§ Q2. Mr. Patrick Thompson
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.

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

§ Mr. Thompson
Bearing in mind the fact that, last night, the IRA launched yet another vicious terrorist attack endangering the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians, were not the Opposition, at exactly same time, voting against the very measure which our security forces need to combat this evil? Are not the Opposition soft on terrorism and soft on crime?

§ The Prime Minister
I believe that the attack that was launched yesterday on Heathrow airport by the IRA will receive and deserve universal condemnation. It was an unjustifiable attack and will make no difference whatever to the search for peace in Northern Ireland. But I believe that it should lead to every part of this House uniting on firm action against terrorism.

§ Mr. John Smith
With the issue of Ministers telling the truth now a matter of public debate, does the Prime Minister appreciate that what most undermines the credibility of his Administration is the blatant deception practised at the last election when the Conservative party promised to cut taxes? Since then, they have imposed the largest tax increase in Britain's peacetime history.

§ The Prime Minister
I shall turn directly to that point, but I must say that I am extremely surprised that the right hon. and learned Gentleman should pursue that matter on the day after a mortar attack at Heathrow and on the very day on which the Cabinet has been considering sending more troops to Bosnia to deal with an international problem. [interruption.] have made the point. The right hon. and learned Gentleman seems to think that these things do not matter. I think that people throughout the country will take a different view. [Interruption.]

§ Madam Speaker
Order. The House must come to order.

§ The Prime Minister
On the specific point raised by the right hon. and learned Gentleman, taxation rose precisely because we kept our promises to protect the elderly, the vulnerable and the sick through the long recession. The recession lasted longer than we or other forecasters had imagined, and in order to sustain policy and bring down interest rates it was necessary to close borrowing. That was a responsible attitude. It was the right attitude. If the right hon. and learned Gentleman understood the first thing about economics, he would support it, not attack it.

§ Mr. John Smith
To come very directly to the point, does the Prime Minister deny that before the election he promised to cut taxes and he is now putting them up?

§ The Prime Minister
I have made it perfectly clear to the right hon. and learned Gentleman why it was necessary to raise taxation, although we had hoped not to do so. If the right hon. and learned Gentleman wants to consider taxes, he might look at the more recent figures of council taxes which show clearly how much more expensive Labour authorities and Liberal authorities are than Conservative authorities. Perhaps the right hon. and learned Gentleman would comment on that.

§ Mr. John Smith
Having regard to the Prime Minister's feeble excuse for breaking his promise at the election, does he not remember telling the Los Angeles Times in his celebrated interview last year: I said [to colleagues] the day after we won the election … 'Within the next 12 months the government will be the most unpopular we have seen for a long time.' He went on to say, "I was staggeringly prescient." Will the Prime Minister explain how he could know about the state of the economy the day after the election but not know before polling day?

§ The Prime Minister
I shall go back further than that for the right hon. and learned Gentleman. I made it absolutely clear on the day that I became Chancellor of the Exchequer that we would take whatever action was necessary to restrain inflation and put the economy on secure and steady growth. We have done that, including maintaining monetary policy with interest rates at a high level right through the election, because it was in the 396 interests of the British economy to do so. That is responsible government. I am sorry that the right hon. and learned Gentleman does not understand that.

§ Q3. Lady Olga Maitland
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.

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

§ Lady Olga Maitland
With the council elections approaching, does my right hon. Friend agree with me that what council tax payers want are efficient services at the lowest possible cost? Does he agree that it is the Conservative councils who deliver this, not the Labour councils and not the Liberal councils, such as the one that I have in Surrey?

§ The Prime Minister
I not only agree with my hon. Friend; it is what the statistics now becoming available on council tax charges show. At present, as my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Planning announced yesterday, Conservative councils that have now declared their council taxes come out, on average, at £129 less than Labour councils and £73 less than Liberal councils. It is clear who costs one more in the shires— it is Labour. It is clear who costs one more in the mets— it is Labour. It is clear who costs one more in London— it is Labour. No matter where one looks, Labour councils and— so as not to disappoint the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown)— Liberal councils, cost one more.

§ Q4. Mr. David Marshall
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.

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

§ Mr.Marshall
Is the Prime Minister aware that his recent morale-boosting visit to Scotland has resulted in his party achieving a record low in the polls of 13 per cent? Does he appreciate why the Scots are once more uttering the refrain: Will ye no' come back again"— and again, and again?

§ The Prime Minister
As it happens, the hon. Gentleman is typically inaccurate. The data were before I visited Scotland.