Peter Allen, ITN
Prime Minister, would it be fair to say that what you are really trying to do is just set a framework and you are relying on private enterprise to actually provide the jobs, to invest the money, to do the work?
Prime Minister
No, it would not. We are certainly continuing our existing policies. Our existing policies have had tremendous success in some areas, London Docklands is one, the Albert Dock in Liverpool is another, Salford Quays is another and now what we are taking is this enormous amount of money that is spent every year. We are concentrating it, we are adding something to it and we are getting every single department together and seeing that we each spend our money in the knowledge of where the other is spending it so that you can coordinate and it should in fact intensify the whole attack on inner city problems.
Peter Allen, ITN
It is, as you say, a pull together of existing ideas. It has been described by Roy Hattersley, among others, as a rag-bag of tired old ideas.
Prime Minister
Really? Well, I would not have called an Urban Development [end p1] Corporation “tired old ideas” . They have done wonderful things for London Docks, for the ALbert Docks in Liverpool. I went up to see one, as you know, in Teeside. Everyone wants them because they are good. They were our idea. Enterprise zones; everyone wants them because they are good; they were our idea. What we found though was that we were spending a great deal of money along many departments but the whole campaign was not being coordinated so we are coordinating it and adding to it where necessary.
Peter Allen, ITN
Doesn't the Government have to set the ball rolling in some of these deprived areas by actually spending more money of its own?
Prime Minister
No, you also spend more money. You do not judge things by the amount of money people spend. You in fact judge them by what they get for what they spend. The taxpayer is spending £3,000 million of money on inner city problems. That is about 2.5 pence of income tax. That is quite a lot. Why, I wonder—I shall be delighted when one day I get a commentator asking me, “Mrs Thatcher, are you sure, what are you doing to ensure that that money is well spent and doing and achieving results?” That is what we are looking at.
Peter Allen, ITN
Mr Moore was not on the top table and a lot of other Ministers were and health would seem to be central to the future of inner cities. Is there any particular reason for that?
Prime Minister
Because we have our own policy on health. There is already [end p2] an allocation scheme which means that the increased money for the health service each year goes towards those regions which have never had big general hospitals or never had the full facilities which we have been used to having in London and the South East.
Please let me tell you, it was a London Member. Sometimes we do not get as much as we would like. It means sometimes in the House of Commons that London Members will complain and when I tackle them and say “Ah, are you telling me you do not want the money to go to some of the difficult regions?” —no, they want that as well. But in fact far more money has been spent on the health service and we already have the policy of trying to improve the health, most of all in the regions where they have never had the facilities to which London has been used.
Peter Allen, ITN
Are inner city councils standing in your way?
Prime Minister
In some cases, yes, because in some cases there are some inner city councils—extreme left-wing ones—they are not interested in solving the problems of jobs by getting the private sector to come in and start new business, they are not interested in getting the private sector to start up building. They are interested in getting more and more taxpayer's and rate payer's money and spending it themselves in such a way that controls the lives of the people within. Of course people will not go to those areas.
You get other authorities, the good solid old-fashioned Labour authorities that are interested in solving the problems, are [end p3] interested in partnership with the private sector and that is why, for example, that you are doing very well in some areas and in fact getting in the jobs in those cities.
We are trying to say, “Look, if you do not want private sector, we are just not going to help” , but we are changing the whole rating system because hitherto, some of the left-wing Labour authorities thought “We can do what we like. We can fleece the owner occupier and the private sector and just spend” —and what happened was small businesses did not start up; the jobs did not come. That will not do.
Peter Allen, ITN
Final question: you have been in office for some time now. When will inner cities begin to see the results of your work and actually benefit from it?
Prime Minister
Go and look at some of the results there are there. Were you with me at Salford Quays? I am not sure. That is one result.
Go and look at the Albert Dock area in Liverpool; the only part of Liverpool really flourishing and dynamic with new business was that plus also another technological part which we have been doing our level best to get more people to go to.
Go and have a look at the heart of Dockland which was derelict for years. Look at some of those. Go and look at the new shopping centre in Gateshead—absolutely fantastic. Go and look—with not a penny piece of public money but all private enterprise.
Where I was in Halifax, a massive old carpet factory now being used for small businesses to start up, for service businesses [end p4] already in that massive building there are more people employed now than there were as a carpet factory. We are getting local authorities to work with us and indeed it is having tremendous results already. This is a further leap forward in this campaign.