HC Deb 13 May 1996 vol 277 cc622-4
2. Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent review he has conducted of the co-ordination of Government policy; and what conclusions he has reached. [27665]

The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Michael Heseltine)

The co-ordination of Government policy is kept under constant review. I have no proposals to change present arrangements.

Mr. Hughes

The first part of that answer might be a jolly good thing, because I was going to ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether there had been a particular review since the local government elections. If the governing party loses half the seats that it is defending, if it is left with about a dozen councils in England, Scotland and Wales, if it has the fewest local government seats that it has had since, I think, the last war and if it is now the third party in local government, is there not something to review and, if so, what is the result of the Government's evaluation of an abysmal local election performance?

The Deputy Prime Minister

I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would remember that, at the last election, his party lost every by-election seat that it had won and that he would have learnt a lesson from that: one does not take short-term measures when one is fighting a general election campaign, which will be determined in real circumstances in a year's time, when the Tories will win.

Mr. Jessel

On Government policy on the national lottery and its provision for good causes, is my right hon. Friend aware that the Charities Aid Foundation has announced—if I heard my car radio right about half an hour ago—that there has been no reduction in the general provision of money for charities by the public as a result of the national lottery, and that that is apart from the money thrown up for charities by the national lottery, which is a tremendous national achievement and has conferred terrific benefit?

The Deputy Prime Minister

My hon. Friend is right to draw the House's attention to that exciting news, which builds on the considerable increase in charitable giving that other Government measures have already achieved. The present lottery additionality is welcomed by many causes.

Mr. Prescott

Does the Deputy Prime Minister acknowledge the disarray in the presentation of Government policy on British beef, where the Secretary of State for Health accused the public, and not the cows, of being mad? Does the Deputy Prime Minister therefore agree with the Foreign Secretary's assessment in his leaked letter to the Prime Minister that the Government suffer from poor co-ordination of policy? Does the Deputy Prime Minister accept any responsibility for that?

The Deputy Prime Minister

The whole House knows that this is one of the most difficult issues that any Government have faced in a long time; trying to make party points out of it serves no purpose. The Government's policy is clear: we are, where we can, helping the farming community and we are dealing with the issues in world forums and in the world political scene, wherever relevant. We must persuade other people in sovereign countries to change their minds. We will not do so by belittling our effort on a party political basis.

Mr. Wilkinson

Reverting to the vexed issue of the European Union's ban on British beef exports and the difference—the apparent difference, of course—in the governmental approach to it between acquiescence and possible retaliation, will my right hon. Friend and Her Majesty's Government concentrate on the EU's ban on British beef exports to non-EU countries as that is clearly beyond the EU's jurisdiction? Will my right hon. Friend make it clear that, if that aspect of the ban persists, Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to retaliate?

The Deputy Prime Minister

I think that my hon. Friend would want to bear in mind the fact that many of those countries introduced a ban of their own and that a significant number of them did so long before the European Union. This is an international issue; it is now a European issue. The beef market in many European countries is suffering more than this country's beef market. This stretching, difficult political issue can be dealt with only by negotiation, however aggravated and difficult it undoubtedly is.