§ Q66. Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement outlining the objectives of Her Majesty's Government for the remainder of the present Parliament.
§ The Prime MinisterWe aim to make Britain strong at home and influential abroad.
At home, we shall build on the success of our economic policies. We shall continue to work for sound money, for lower inflation, for lower government borrowing and lower interest rates; we shall pursue value for money in public services. We shall reduce regulation and government control over industries and individuals. We shall continue to foster the spirit of enterprise and to encourage pay negotiators to take full account of competitiveness, and so to preserve and create jobs. We shall continue to limit the burden of public expenditure and taxation.
We shall build on the progress which our past legislation has made towards a fairer balance of power between management and unions. We shall reduce private and public monopolies. We shall continue to transfer industries from the public to the private sector, where they will be subject to competition and the disciplines of the market. We shall maintain the right of council tenants to buy their houses and encourage local authorities to sell voluntarily. We shall protect householders and businesses from excessive rate demands. We shall abolish unnecessary local bureaucracies.
We shall protect the poor and those in most need of help, honouring our pledges on benefits. We shall 665W complete our consultation on the reform of occupational pensions, leading to legislation, and will carry through the inquiry into long-term pension proposals. We shall improve the management of the NHS to provide a better service to patients and better value for the taxpayer.
We shall vigorously uphold the rule of law and fight crime. We shall give parents more choice and more power in schools and continue our drive for better standards of education. We shall improve safeguards against all types of pollution. We shall extend the network of motorways and build more bypasses for towns and villages which suffer heavy traffic.
Abroad, we shall promote freer and fairer trade between nations. Within the European Community we shall work to achieve early agreement on a fair and disciplined financial system and to develop forward-looking and effective Community policies in other areas, and lead the Community to play a wider role in the world. We shall maintain the effectiveness of our defences, both nuclear and conventional, in particular through co-operation with our NATO allies. We shall negotiate for the mutual reduction of armaments not from weakness but from strength. We shall stand up for British interests throughout the world. We seek peace: with freedom and justice.