Speech presenting Anglo-Dutch awards for Enterprise

Mr. Chairman Mr. Van Aardenne, Your Excellencies, My Lords Ladies and Gentlemen.

First Mr. Chairman I would like to express my thanks to the Netherlands-British Chamber of Commerce for asking me along to present these awards. I will say a word about them in a moment but I want also to say that it is a delight to be here, to signify the very close relationship which has existed and which continues to exist today between the Government of the Netherlands and the Government of the United Kingdom and the peoples whom we represent.

The fact that Mr. Van Aardenne is here indicates the importance which his Government attaches to these matters. I am especially pleased to see him here because last time I visited the Netherlands on an official Prime Ministerial visit he greeted me and took me round to see some of the latest scientific work in the Netherlands and also the European Space Agency, where we saw great examples of our co-operation. It was I should say a particularly important day for the Government and people of Holland because the Government of Holland, like the Government of Britain, had decided that it really must tackle the problem of overspending by Governments. So you see I was really quite the right person to be in the Netherlands that day. And I admired greatly the way in which the Government tackled it—they said we are spending too much, the deficit is too high, therefore everyone who procures an income from Government shall have that income reduced in the year to some three per cent less than what it would otherwise have been. And Mr. Chairman they got it through—wasn't that marvellous? But fortunately, Mr. Van Aardenne, I am happy to tell you though deficits may be a problem both sides of the Atlantic, they are not a problem which afflicts this Government because perhaps we led ahead of you in managing to keep our public spending within reason and the deficit going steadily down.

Now as well as being very close politically, I would like just to remind all of our colleagues Mr. Chairman that when Britain negotiated her entry into Europe eleven years ago the Netherlands was foremost among helping us in that great assay and when we tried to tackle the problems of the European Community now, some of the problems which have been shirked for a long time, it is Britain and the Netherlands which tackle those problems together along with some of our other colleagues and we shall win through.

There is of course a very special relationship for anyone who occupies as I do the house in No. 10 Downing Street, a special relationship with The Hague. I am not sure whether many of you know, but George Downing who built the street and the house was at one time our Ambassador to the Netherlands. And his job of course was to represent any grievances which British merchants might have in their trade in the Netherlands to the Dutch Government. I have to tell you he didn't do it very well. In fact he got into such [end p1] difficulty in the Netherlands that there was a mob out on the streets and he had to be withdrawn rather quickly and so dissatisfied was Her Majesty's Government with him, so dissatisfied was the then Government with him, that on his return to our shores he was clapped into the Tower. That hasn't happened to any Ambassador since. They do their job very well these days—I see our Ambassador looking just a little bit alarmed. They do their job very well these days and we welcome both our Ambassadors here. And so that really was the history of Downing I have to tell you that he wasn't a very good builder either—Downing Street has proved very expensive because the foundations were never put in right. Well, we do things better these days and everything goes extremely well between the Netherlands and Britain.

Now the Enterprise Award. It is very important because in a free society one relies on the people, the companies of enterprise to produce the standard of living, to produce the goods and the services which the customer wants against the framework of politics which we in Government try to create. The essentials of a free society are that Government is strong to do only those things which Government can do—the defence, the law and order, the fundamental social security matters—and to create the framework of law and regulation for the country to enable freedom to operate, to see that one person has freedom but so does the other and to take freedom for oneself is also to give it to the other. But when Governments have been strong to do those things, then we say it is over to the people to produce the flourishing businesses whether they be small or large and to produce the goods and services for home and overseas consumption. So it is strong Government but strong also to know its limitations and to enable enterprise to get on with the job.

Now of course I am a great believer in free enterprise, a great admirer of its work, of its sense of adventure, of its attention to good design, of its attention to good financial management, of its attention to the human factor in good management between management and workforce in each and every enterprise. And I am also a great supporter of small business. It not only adds greatly to employment, it not only adds greatly to prosperity, but the people who embark on new business and small business add greatly to the kind of character and independence of our free society.

Now Sir James has already told us that we are here for the awards and I know you are very anxious, as I am, to know who has won the awards. You know that there can only be four and I am very pleased that two of them go to small businesses. May I just before we announce and present these awards thank you all for coming, wish you all well each in your respective businesses or professions, and there is an especially good reason for that—if you succeed, Mr. Lubl and I succeed, we really do wish you well.