§ Q1. Mrs. EwingTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 7 February.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major)This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.
§ Mrs. EwingSince the Government's policy has virtually destroyed the manufacturing base of the north of Scotland—including industries such as our pulp mills, oil fabrication yards and a smelter—and, more recently, led to the mothballing of three distilleries, is the Prime Minister prepared to allow the Cabinet to sit back and watch the destruction of our tourist industry as a result of the axing of rail services, both sleeper accommodation and Motorail facilities, to the north of Scotland? Will he, as a courteous man, now instruct the Secretaries of State for Transport and for Scotland to afford the representatives from the north of Scotland a meeting—a request for which was submitted some six weeks ago—tomorrow to discuss those vital issues?
§ The Prime MinisterOf course I shall look carefully at what the hon. Lady has to say. We are keen to see a successful tourist industry in the north-east of Scotland and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. If the hon. Lady looks right across Scotland as well as the rest of the United Kingdom, she will see that manufacturing industry is expanding, doing extremely well, making many things that just a few years ago were simply not made in Britain, and exporting at record levels around the world. In the past year there have been eight successive new monthly records in exports alone.
§ Mr. William PowellWill my right hon. Friend reaffirm the Government's support for British agriculture in order to assert that farmers are as entitled as any other of Her Majesty's subjects to earn their living under the law, and that includes selling their young veal calves at a proper market price if they so choose? Will he confirm that causing mayhem at British ports and airports is no way to stop practices in other countries that we have banned here, and that those who do so should take their cause to other countries in the Community and to the European Parliament, not pursue it here?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend is right to stress the importance of the farming industry and entirely right to stress the fact that farmers have a right to carry on their trade within the law, as does everyone else. I think that my hon. Friend and the House know our opposition to veal crates and of the measures taken by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, 137 Fisheries and Food to try to ensure that they are taken out of commission not just in the United Kingdom but right across Europe.
§ Mr. BlairWill the Prime Minister state clearly whether he agrees with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who has said that he would wait an eternity before joining a single currency?
§ The Prime MinisterI set out in detail the conditions for a single currency, originally as long ago as 1990. I reaffirmed them in some detail last Friday. I made it clear last Friday that not only must the specific Maastricht criteria be met, but that in addition we would require other criteria to be met before we thought it appropriate to consider a single currency. Some years in advance of those being met, it is unwise to say either, "Yes we will proceed," or, "No, we will never proceed."
§ Mr. BlairOn Friday, of course, the Prime Minister was generally facing both ways. Indeed, Conservative central office was briefing one message on Friday and Downing street another yesterday. If he will not slap down his Chief Secretary, will he say whether he agrees with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is a supporter of monetary union, and who can foresee circumstances in which Britain would join and wants to do so by the end of the century?
§ The Prime MinisterI have just set out in great detail precisely the circumstances in which we would find it appropriate to consider whether we should proceed to a single currency. The right hon. Gentleman has not yet indicated that for his own party at all. As to unity, we know that 50 of his Members of Parliament defied the Whip on Maastricht, 40 of his Members of Parliament defied the Whip on the European Communities (Finance) Act 1995 and the Labour party has had seven twists and turns over recent years as to whether or not it is in favour of the European Union. I repeat to the right hon. Gentleman that, as far as a single currency later this year is concerned, we would first require all the specific Maastricht criteria to be met.
In addition, we would require other criteria to be met—for example, relative flexibility of employment markets. My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor will set those out later this week. When those other matters are set out, we shall then consider whether it would be appropriate economically or constitutionally to proceed. I hope now that the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition, having learnt what the right answer is to that question, will fashion his own policy.
§ Mr. BlairLet me put it specifically, then. If those circumstances are met, will the Prime Minister join?
§ The Prime MinisterI have just told the right hon. Gentleman. When and if those circumstances are met, we shall look to see whether it is appropriate and in the British interests to join. Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us now whether he would join, yes or no? Does he know whether it would be in the British 138 interest? No, he does not. All that he is concerned to do is to trail along the path behind the Euro-federalists, where he feels most happy.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The right hon. Gentleman has had three questions. I really cannot call him again. I am sorry.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I believe that the hon. Gentleman has had his third question. If he wants to reply—[Interruption.] The Prime Minister has asked him to reply. In that case, I call the Leader of the Opposition.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. It is most unusual for Prime Ministers to ask the Opposition questions at Question Time.
§ Mr. BlairI think that it is excellent that the Prime Minister is getting into the habit of asking us questions rather than answering them himself. Can I tell him this, though? Until he decides where he stands on that issue as the Prime Minister of the day, his leadership will remain weak, his Cabinet divided and Britain effectively disabled in Europe.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is interesting to ask the right hon. Gentleman questions. It would be more interesting if he ever provided any answers.
I have set out for the right hon. Gentleman the conditions in which it would be right for us to consider the interests of the United Kingdom. I will not make a judgment that is crucial to the constitutional and economic future of this country until I see the economic circumstances of the day—and, frankly, only a dimwit would ask me to. [Interruption.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. This is very time-consuming.
§ Mr. StreeterDoes my right hon. Friend accept that his concept of a European Union of nation states co-operating and working together for their common interests is in touch with the majority view in the country? Does it not contrast starkly with the policies of the Opposition parties, which can be described as a total sell-out to Brussels?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that this country has a very deep attachment to the nation state. The European Union that it seeks is a European Union based on nation states—a wider European Union, a free market European Union, a decentralised European Union, and not the federal European Union that the Opposition wish for and their Members of the European Parliament clamour for.
§ Mr. AshdownIs the Prime Minister asking us to believe that it is none of his business, and not his Government's responsibility, that school governors across the land are being forced to cut school budgets and sack teachers? Or is he saying that that is a price that our children should be prepared to pay so that he will have room for tax cuts at the next election?
§ The Prime MinisterAs ever, the right hon. Gentleman has his facts wrong. If he looks, he will see the increased spending on teachers, support staff, books 139 and equipment. He will also see that the Audit Commission regularly identifies significant scope for savings by local authorities—not least Liberal Democrat-run local authorities—and their freedom to transfer more resources to education. The right hon. Gentleman may also learn that authorities are maintaining some 1 million surplus school places. Perhaps next time he asks a question, he will have ascertained some of those facts before doing so.
§ Mr. WallerDoes my right hon. Friend agree that the publication of new guidance relating to appointments to quangos is an extremely positive and welcome advance? Is not the constant criticism directed at members of such bodies bound in time to become a disincentive, and to prevent public-spirited persons from putting their names forward for membership?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, I think that the review will prove extremely useful. It also emphasises that both the number and the real cost of non-departmental bodies have fallen significantly since 1979. As everyone who has examined the matter knows, the Opposition's criticism of such bodies is really based on their dislike of parent choice in schools, their dislike of patient choice for fundholding general practitioners and their dislike of patient choice in hospitals. That is local choice, but they call it quangos. They wish to retain choice centrally now, as they always have.
§ Q2. Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 7 February.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
§ Mr. PrenticeDoes the Prime Minister agree with the Secretary of State for Education, who believes that a teachers' pay increase could be funded only at the expense 140 of between 7,000 and 10,000 teaching jobs and a spiralling increase in class sizes? How does that square with what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said at lunchtime today—that extra cash is not available and is not needed? Who speaks for the Government on this matter? More important, who speaks for the children in our schools?
§ The Prime MinisterWe speak for the children in the schools. That is why we have given their parents choice, why we have given greater choice in schools, why we have produced performance tables, and why we have produced testing. That is why our crusade is for choice not to close city technology colleges, not to close grant-maintained schools, and not to close every element of choice that parents want and children need.
§ Mr. Bill WalkerHas my right hon. Friend noticed that the Scots favour the Union between Scotland and England and the rest of the United Kingdom because the Scots, with less than 9 per cent. of the UK's population, enjoy far more positions of importance—for instance, in the Cabinet, the proportion is in excess of 20 per cent., whatever the Government—in the military, in trade unions and in industry? That is what the Scots will not give up.
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. Friend speaks in a tone that many people will recognise. There is no doubt about the advantages, both to the UK and to Scotland, of Scotland being a full part of the UK. I do not believe that anyone who has studied the problem doubts that for a single second. The talents—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) clearly has not studied it because he does doubt that. That is because he wants an independent Scotland disunited from the UK, in the middle of a European Union where it would have little or no influence, and that would damage the interests of Scots, the interests of Scotland and the wider interests of the UK. That is why his party must never be put in power in any way in Scotland or elsewhere.