§ Q16. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Prime Minister what reply he has sent to the letter delivered to him by miners' wives on 18th January on the subject of the miners' strike.
§ The Prime MinisterIn my reply I confirmed that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment was keeping in close touch with the situation and was ready to take any further initiative likely to bring about agreement. I said that, while I understood the concern which miners' wives felt about this dispute, I believed that the interests both of the miners and of the community as a whole would be best served by an early settlement which neither damaged the prospects of the coal industry nor reversed the progress already made towards bringing inflation under control.