Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker
Before we start Prime Minister's questions, I remind the House that questions should be related to the Prime Minister's responsibilities.
Engagements
Q1. Mr. Franks
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House I shall be having further meetings later today.
Mr. Franks
Has my right hon. Friend noticed the latest optimistic forecast from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research concerning jobs, inflation, growth and output? Will she confirm that the Government's policies, which have secured those improved prospects, will be continued, not only in this Parliament but in the next, despite the efforts of the Opposition to undermine national prosperity?
The Prime Minister
I had noticed that report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, [column 415]which said that the economy would expand by nearly 3 per cent. this year. It has been accompanied by other optimistic reports at the same time from the Association of British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute for Fiscal Studies and by excellent construction figures. I confirm what my hon. Friend said, that the policies that have led to a healthy industrial and commercial base will be continued in the next Parliament.
Mr. Kinnock
When £3 billion spent on high quality health and education services and building homes would generate at least four times as many jobs as an equal sum spent on tax cuts, does not the course of prudence dictate to the Government that they should be using whatever resources they have to generate jobs in Britain rather than using them for pre-election give-aways?
The Prime Minister
More jobs are being generated in Britain, as the right hon. Gentleman knows. The healthy state of the economy, which I have just indicated from the reports today, has been brought about partially by the incentives that have been given by some of the income tax cuts. Most of us want to keep, at the top end too, some of our best brains in this country and one does not do that by high taxation.
Mr. Kinnock
Does the Prime Minister not recognise that, whenever they are asked, the vast majority of British taxpayers say that they would rather have dependable, high quality services, decent old-age pensions and jobs for people in this country than a few pence off income tax? Is it not clear that their sense of prudence and patriotism is much greater than that of the Government?
The Prime Minister
We have high quality services in this country. The Health Service is excellent, and, with regard to pensioners, Britain's spending on the elderly is the third highest in Europe as a proportion of the national income. With regard to what the right hon. Gentleman said about tax cuts, may I remind him of what the last Labour Chancellor said about these. He said:
“With the rate of inflation remaining low, and with these substantial tax reliefs” ——
he was referring to some small cuts on 11 April 1978—
“modest increases in earnings should ensure that real living standards can continue to rise over the year ahead without unduly increasing our industrial costs.”
He went on:
“This is the best possible recipe for commercial and industrial success. It is the only recipe for curing unemployment.” —[Official Report, 11 April 1978; Vol. 947, c. 1207–8.]
That was a Labour Chancellor.
Mr. Kinnock
Yes, and does the Prime Minister recall that when that Labour Chancellor said that there were 1 million, not 3 million, unemployed, that we had a surplus in our manufacturing trade, that we had lower interest rates and that everybody—old-age pensioners and others alike—was in relative and absolute terms better off? Will she accept that that Chancellor, also had a 25p band for income tax? Will she introduce that and use any other money she has for generating jobs, instead of trying to bribe at election time?
The Prime Minister
Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman has forgotten a few facts. We now have a higher standard of living than this country has ever known and the highest standard of Health Service that this country has ever known. The day that we were returned to No. 10 Downing [column 416]street spending on the National Health Service was £7¾ billion a year and now it is £18¾ billion a year. The standard of pensions has never been higher than it is now.
Mrs. Peacock
Has my right hon. Friend had time today to study the report from the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, which suggests that four regions in the north of England, including Yorkshire, have above average investment? Will she congratulate those companies in my constituency that have invested over £20 million in manufacturing industry?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is right. The Association of British Chambers of Commerce has confirmed that manufacturing industry is doing well in the north as well as in the south, that exports are also doing well in the north, that a considerable number of people are taking up enterprise allowances in the north and that half the increasing number of self-employed also find their place in the north.
Q2. Mr. Nicholas Brown
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Brown
When the Prime Minister next bats for the north in Cabinet, will she thump her right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy with her bat and tell him to get on with ordering coal-fired power plants from the north's engineering industry? What is the point of planning tax cuts for people to spend on imported electrical consumer goods when there will be no electricity in the mid-1990s with which to run them?
The Prime Minister
I notice that the Labour party is a party of high income taxation at all levels. We happen to believe that people are entitled to the lion's share of their own earnings and that that gives rise to better incentives and a better standard of living for all people. With regard to power stations, my right hon. Friend Peter Walkerthe Energy Secretary will be taking decisions in the near future about what power stations, if any, he will be ordering.
Q3. Mr. Latham
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Latham
When my right hon. Friend met the American arms control negotiators yesterday, did she stress that the stars wars project, in its limited research form, has already been immensely helpful to the West in bringing Mr. Gorbachev to the negotiating table and, we hope, keeping him there?
The Prime Minister
I believe that it is the strength and resolution of the West, including this Government, that have brought the Russians to the negotiating table at Geneva. It is continued strength and resolution that will in the end ensure balanced reductions of nuclear and other weaponry. Indeed, that is one reason why the Labour party's policy of one-sided nuclear disarmament is so dangerous and will be totally rejected by the British people.
Mr. Steel
When the Prime Minister told the Institute of Directors on Tuesday that she believed it wrong for the state to take and spend so much of people's earnings, did [column 417]she not recognise what a poll in the Today newspaper shows, which is that a clear majority of people would rather see money spent this year on jobs, education, pensions and health than have two or three pence off their rate of income tax? Does that not show that the people have a rather higher concept of responsibility to their neighbours than has the Prime Minister?
The Prime Minister
No. I am interested to learn that the Liberal party also wants higher income tax for people such as nurses and teachers. We do not wish to have higher income tax. We believe that a Chancellor does not give away money on Budget day, but decides how much of people's money he will take away.
Mr. Gerald Howarth
Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the aerospace industry on achieving a 12.5 per cent. increase in exports last year, reaching a record £4.74 billion? Does this not show the strength of manufacturing industry in high-tech, and does it not give the lie to what has been said by the Leader of the Opposition, who is doing a great disservice to manufacturing industry?
The Prime Minister
Yes, I gladly congratulate the British aerospace industry and the company. It had a good year the year before last, which was shown in the company's annual report in March last year. I understand that it has had another very good year this year and we congratulate all concerned.
Q6. Mr. Terlezki
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Terlezki
Will not the trade union reforms announced this week be welcome in the whole of the country because they will ensure that no longer will the trade union barons have the power to dictate to our industries? Should not power belong to the ordinary trade union members, who should be the people to decide the future of their labour?
The Prime Minister
Yes, all our trade union reforms have been designed to give more power to ordinary members of trade unions against the trade union bosses. They have led to a new atmosphere in industrial relations, with the lowest number of strikes for a long time and an excellent, profitable industry with good prospects for the future.
Mr. Flannery
Will the Prime Minister take note of the hurriedly organised lobby of teachers' unions outside the House today? The lobby is asking for the right to negotiate as a union—a right of which it has been deprived by a Bill introduced by a Minister who does not understand what he is doing. Will the Prime Minister do something so that the unions generally know that this is an attack not only on the teachers' unions but on the trade union movement, to deprive it of the right to negotiate?
The Prime Minister
The overwhelming majority of teachers, and of parents, know that teachers have had a [column 418]better deal from this Government than from any other Government. The increase in pay is outstanding and takes teachers way above what used to be their old bench-mark of the Houghton award. This settlement goes way above that and defines their pay and conditions of service for the first time, ensuring that better teachers get better pay. It is a temporary arrangement until permanent arrangements for negotiating can be worked out.
Q7. Mr. Robert Atkins
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Atkins
With regard to the Government's recently announced policy on the future of Leyland Trucks, will my right hon. Friend take time today to consider the division within the Liberal party? Its employment spokesman is in favour of Paccar, and its industry spokesman is in favour of DAF. Is this not——
Mr. Speaker
Order. Was the hon. Gentleman not here when I made my announcement? Questions must relate to the Prime Minister's responsibilities.
Mrs. Clwyd
Does the Prime Minister recall Question Time on 22 January, when she described Mr. Duncan Campbell as ferreting around and as a threat to national security? Will she now apologise to him and to all those smeared by her accusations?
The Prime Minister
No. The matters referred to were accepted by both Front Benches as a threat to national security. Yesterday Mr. Campbell gave the High Court a binding undertaking not to publish sensitive information about the secret defence project—[Interruption.] The injunction against him was accordingly discharged in the light of that binding undertaking.
Q7. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 26 February.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mrs. Bottomley
With 15,000 deaths and 24,000 new cases of breast cancer a year, does my right hon. Friend agree that the announcement of a national screening service is further demonstration of the Government's commitment to women's health?
The Prime Minister
Yes. As my right hon. Friend Norman Fowlerthe Secretary of State for Social Services said yesterday, the Government have accepted the recommendation of the Forrest report in full. This is greatly to the advantage of many women and greatly to the relief of many others, not only in relation to breast cancer, but with regard to cervical cancer. It was a very good statement yesterday and it is a further earnest of the way in which this Government constantly look after the Health Service and constantly improve it.