§ 6. Mr. Jacques ArnoldTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister to which Government policy he dedicated most attention in the week beginning 18 March. [20681]
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterI worked on a full range of those Government policies for which I am responsible.
§ Mr. ArnoldAt a time when the media are getting extremely excitable over a number of issues, is my right hon. Friend aware that the public still expect the Government to work quietly and steadily on the fundamentals? Will my right hon. Friend highlight in particular the sterling work done in the Department of Trade and Industry on inward investment? It is important for the future that the UK has the highest inward investment of any country in the European Union, since thousands of jobs exist because of it.
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterThere is a sharp contrast between the international industrialists who invest in this country because they know that it is the enterprise centre of Europe and Opposition Members who spend their life trying to pretend that it is other than that.
§ Mr. BeithIs the Deputy Prime Minister telling the House that Government policy on the beef crisis did not engage the main part of the right hon. Gentleman's attention in the latter part of last week? If it did not, why not? Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that the British beef industry's export activities are so crucial to the British economy that the fact that the Government are not trusted in this country or abroad when they make pronouncements on the beef crisis is a tragedy?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman could not have heard what I said, because I made it clear that I worked on a full range of policies for which I am responsible. I am not directly responsible for the policies of the Department of Health or of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, although I was deeply involved in many meetings on the subject in question. That does not mean that there were not a lot of other matters with which I had to deal as the week proceeded.
§ Mr. PrescottCan the Deputy Prime Minister tell the House, following a week in which his proposals to deregulate employment protection for millions of employees were overruled by the Prime Minister and in which the disastrous turn of events in the beef industry threatens the lives of British citizens and the livelihoods of those who work in the beef industry, whether he will now review the whole approach to deregulation to restore public trust and confidence in what is clearly an incompetent Government?
§ The Deputy Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is doing his best to link events that have no natural linkage in order to maximise the anxiety of people who would be much better employed listening to the scientific advice, on which the Government have to act, as opposed to the scaremongering of the right hon. Gentleman and the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson) over that issue at the Dispatch Box today. If the right hon. Gentleman listened to what the Government have to say, it would be clear to him that we seek the best independent scientific advice and we act on that advice. That is the only responsible course that the Government can take.