§ Q7. Mr.SumbergTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. SumbergIs my right hon. Friend aware of the considerable concern in my constituency and throughout the country about the activities of television cable-laying 398 companies? Pavements are uprooted, roads closed and businesses disrupted all with the objective of getting doubtful television programmes into our homes. Is it not time that we found a better way of organising these matters?
§ The Prime MinisterI recognise the concerns of my hon. Friend. Of course it is important that all those with the right to undertake street works should keep disruption to a minimum. He will know that there are duties to do so written into the terms of the licence issued by the Department of Trade and Industry. My hon. Friend will also know that in those areas where cables are laid, about one quarter of all homes subsequently decide to participate in cable television. That has led to investment across the United Kingdom of well over £1 billion.
§ Q8. Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. JonesWill the Prime Minister find time today to check on a transcript of the "Today" programme earlier this week, when his right hon. and learned Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, suggested that he would not be Prime Minister after November, or after the autumn? If that is the case, will he make sure that his right hon. and learned Friend is incorrect, as he is such a good asset to us in the Labour party?
§ The Prime MinisterI seem to recall cheap questions like that before the previous election. I am still here and the Opposition are still there.
§ Q9. Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 10 March.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. BellinghamFurther to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Mr. Thompson), does my right hon. Friend agree that the IRA-Sinn Fein must now be treated with complete contempt? Does he further agree that unless it signs the declaration tomorrow, it should forfeit its opportunity to be part of it?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that every hon. Member of the House will have nothing but contempt for the IRA's behaviour. With the attacks that it has made, both in Northern Ireland and at Heathrow yesterday, it has demonstrated again its disregard for human life and for opinion on both sides of the community. I believe that my hon. Friend misunderstands the long-term purpose and import of the declaration that I signed with the Taoiseach in December. It sets out a series of principles on which we hope and intend to try to build a permanent peace for Northern Ireland.