PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Q1. Mr. Bob Dunn
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 15 February.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
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.
Mr. Dunn
Will my right hon. Friend accept the congratulations of right-thinking people within and without the House of Commons for her robust defence of our nuclear policy? Does she agree that the peace movement is inherently dangerous because it offers the illusion of peace for the price of throwing away our means of defence and deterrence?
The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. Friend that the nuclear policy is a deterrent policy, which has effectively kept the peace in Europe for over 37 years. That is a great achievement. The real peace movement is the Western alliance and a sure defence. Once we have a strong defence policy we can negotiate with the Warsaw Pact countries on the basis of a balanced disarmament, with genuine counting.
Mr. Foot
We should be very glad to have a full debate on that subject as soon as the right hon. Lady is prepared to arrange it.
Is there any foundation in the reports that appeared yesterday in the Daily Mirror and today in The Times that the Government are proposing to circularise civil servants encouraging them to enter private health schemes, which could be injurious to the NHS?
The Prime Minister
Whether the Government are proposing to circularise them or not, may I make it perfectly clear that civil servants, like other people, are free to spend their money as they choose, including on private health care if they so wish.
Mr. Foot
Will the right hon. Lady now say whether she will send out the circular and if so is not that another case of the Government using taxpayers' money to support Conservative policies?
The Prime Minister
No. It is a case of informing employees of benefits that may be available to them.
Mr. Fairbairn
Will my right hon. Friend remind the Leader of the Opposition, who was secretary of the Oxford Union in 1933, when the notorious motion that [column 155]
“This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country”
was passed, that Russia invaded Poland in September 1939 and was stopped halfway by the German army and, when it was defeated, Russia annexed that part of Poland—[Interruption.]—and when the German army was defeated Russia occupied the whole of Poland and half of Germany—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker
Order. If we hear the question we can hear the answer.
Mr. Fairbairn
——and that after 40 years of occupation of Poland, East Germany and the Balkan states it is only the Western alliance with its nuclear weapons that has stopped Russia from going further?
The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. and learned Friend that it is weakness that attracts aggressors. It is strength that keeps the peace, with freedom and justice.
Mr. Frank Allaun
Does the Prime Minister realise that the deployment of American cruise missiles here, whether under single or dual control, will be, and is, unconditionally opposed by the peace movement? Secondly, does she appreciate that there would be no time for United States-United Kingdom consultation and that when the computer went wrong and United States forces were alerted throughout the world, and United States bombers took off, the British Government would not be consulted and not even informed until after the incident was closed?
The Prime Minister
NATO, and the negotiations going on at Geneva, are the true peace movement. The vast majority of the British people realise it. With regard to what the hon. Gentleman said about cruise, joint decision is dual control.
Sir Hector Monro
As, in the year ending January, inflation was down to 4.9 per cent., does my right hon. Friend agree that it is vital that wage settlements reflect this figure if we are to retain competitiveness and provide more jobs?
The Prime Minister
If wage settlements rise they can do so only at the price of causing more unemployment.
Q2. Mr. Canavan
asked the Prime Minister what are her official engagements for 15 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Canavan
Will the Prime Minister explain further her shabby attempt at the weekend to discredit the peace movement by comparing it with the people who tried to appease Hitler? Is it not appropriate that such Goebbels-type propaganda should come from the lips of a war-mongering Prime Minister whose economic policies have caused more devastation and destruction to British industry than the blitzkrieg of Adolf Hitler?
The Prime Minister
The hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) is talking his customary nonsense. The speech that I made at the weekend must have truly hit the right nail on the head—some of the nails were on the Opposition Benches.
Mr. Porter
Has my right hon. Friend noticed that of the 63 questions tabled for answer by her today only four are on specific matters? Would it not be more sensible if [column 156]we had more specific questions, because then we might have a Question Time that was a little less like a circus and more like a serious debating chamber?
The Prime Minister
I am responsible only for the answers, not for the questions.
Mr. David Steel
What brief has been given to the Government lawyers appearing before the European Commission of Human Rights? Is it that it is all right for Governments to seize private property, or is it that the compensation given by the previous Government in the case of shipbuilding and aircraft is adequate?
The Prime Minister
The policy for compensation under the previous Act has been set out in the House many times by my right hon. Friend Sir Keith Josephthe former Secretary of State for Industry and my right hon. Friend Patrick Jenkinthe present Secretary of State. There is no change.
Q3. Mr. Adley
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 15 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Adley
In welcoming the decision of both sides in the water industry to go to a committee of inquiry——
Mr. Skinner
Yes, we are winning.
Mr. Adley
—and bearing in mind that both sides have agreed to abide by its findings, may I ask whether my right hon. Friend agrees that, in the light of those developments, it would be sensible if the strikers now called off their strike and went back to work?
The Prime Minister
I understand that both parties to the dispute have now agreed to accept the findings of the committee of inquiry. If that is so, it would seem that there is absolutely no point in prolonging strike action, which is causing so much hardship to so many people.
Mr. Donald Stewart
When will the Prime Minister desist from trying to spread the absurd myths that she has tried to foist on the people of this country since 1979? In the light of the question from the hon. Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) about low wage settlements, how does she answer the evidence from the low pay unit, showing that the parts of the country where wages are lowest are exactly the parts where unemployment is highest?
The Prime Minister
That is not always so. That is not so in a number of parts of the country. But the right hon. Gentleman will be very much aware that if wages rise substantially, then, since the money supply has to be fixed to try to keep inflation down, if some groups of workers take out more for themselves they can do so only at the price of the unemployment of others.
Mr. Beaumont-Dark
Bearing in mind the proper and fair way in which we are treating those who receive pensions because of their husband's death in the Falklands or in Northern Ireland, and bearing in mind also the case of Mr. Nicholson, the widow, whose husband was awarded the VC during the Battle of Britain, does my right hon. Friend agree that the time has come for the conscience of this country to be roused and for us to treat the war widows of world war 1 and world war 2 more generously and that the coming Budget should provide a start in that direction? [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.” .]
[column 157]The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend will know of this Government's excellent record on the treatment of war widows, the number of times that pensions have been increased, and the fact that we have taken away taxation on war widows' pensions. They have it totally free of taxation. I hope that we shall be able to continue this excellent record.
Miss Boothroyd
As the right hon. Lady does not accept that her Government's invitation to civil servants to join a private health scheme is a further mechanism to weaken the National Health Service, will she at least admit that this latest move gives the lie to her statement at the Tory party conference that the Government care for the Health Service and that the Health Service need have no fears while this Government are in office?
The Prime Minister
The Health Service is there. This Government have made more resources available. The Government have seen to it that more resources have been spent on the Health Service during our period of office than during the period of office of the Labour Government, and that there are more doctors and more nurses. But, fortunately, under this Government we still have a free country and people are free to spend their money on private health if they wish. I notice that the Labour party would take away that freedom if ever it were returned to office—but I do not believe that it will be.
Mr. Churchill
Has my right hon. Friend seen the most interesting evidence produced by the Sunday Times in its two most recent issues to the effect that, while President Carter was seeking to persuade the Labour Government to accept a modernisation of NATO's nuclear weapons based on submarine offshore systems, it was specifically the senior members of the Labour Cabinet who were pressing [column 158]the United States President for land-based systems, which would be based in the United Kingdom? Since that is the case, does not my right hon. Friend think it somewhat strange that they should now sing such a different song when in opposition?
The Prime Minister
I saw that most revealing article in the Sunday Times but I prefer to rely on the communiqués of the NATO group during the lifetime of the Labour Government and also on what the then Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for Stockton (Mr. Rodgers), said in the House on 24 January 1980. Speaking then for the Labour party, he said:
“We accepted the need to move ahead on the proposed timetable” ——
That was after the announcement of the decision to base cruise and Pershing in Europe. He went on:
“It was the view of the previous Government that theatre nuclear modernisation was essential and that is our view today.” —[Official Report, 24 January 1980; Vol. 977, c. 691.]
Q4. Mr. William Hamilton
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 15 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Hamilton
Will the Prime Minister take time today to consider the possibility of abolishing the Honours List, having given knighthoods to such vagabonds as Sir David English and Freddie Laker?
The Prime Minister
No. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would make inquiries to discover which Government gave Sir Freddie a knighthood. I am sure that it was well deserved at the time it was given. We receive requests from all parts of the House to forward names to the appropriate quarters for consideration for honours. Those who receive honours usually well deserve them.