PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Q1. Ms. Mowlam
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall be having further meetings later today.
[column 15]Ms. Mowlam
As it is the Government's view that doctors who oppose the Health Service plans are simply feeling for their wallets, what motive does the Prime Minister use to explain the nurses' opposition?
The Prime Minister
I believe that the nurses who have taken part in the five-hospital experiment for the financial initiative will give evidence that it has worked extremely well and has given far more responsibility to both doctors and nurses. Many other reforms in the Health Service have been fought most bitterly by the medical profession. The initial introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 was fought most bitterly by the medical profession, but it was welcomed later.
Q2. Mr. Curry
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Curry
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her successful visit to southern Africa, particularly her decision to visit Namibia to support the United Nations plan to bring that territory to independence. Will she therefore condemn the incursion from Angola by SWAPO guerrillas into that territory, which is putting at jeopardy the whole of the painfully acquired process?
The Prime Minister
Yes. Perez de CuellarThe secretary general's report to the United Nations and the Security Council specifically confirms that there has been a large-scale incursion from Angola into Namibia by armed SWAPO personnel. It is a most serious challenge to the authority of the United Nations and the internationally agreed arrangements for Namibia's independence, and I certainly condemn it. There is no provision in the United Nations plan for SWAPO to have bases in Namibia. SWAPO committed itself to the Geneva accord under which it is required to stay north of the 16th parallel in Angola. It is the breach by SWAPO which has led to the most regrettable fighting and loss of life. I emphasise that the South African units involved are acting with the authority of the United Nations. It is now important that the authority of the United Nations—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker
Order. These are very important matters.
The Prime Minister
It is important that the authority of the United Nations should be upheld and the arrangements implemented in full.
Sir Russell Johnston
Is the Prime Minister aware that many of us believe that the lengthy reply that she has just given should have been in the form of a statement which the House could have examined at greater length? Is she completely confident that the description of events that she has given us, which is being disputed by several newspapers, is absolutely accurate?
The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman can read for himself the report of the secretary general to the United Nations Security Council, which specifically confirmed that there has been a large-scale incursion from Angola into Namibia; he can obtain for himself a copy of the agreements to which the several member states were signatories; he can also obtain for himself a copy of the Geneva protocols which were specifically agreed to by SWAPO. All those are public knowledge, and the hon. Gentleman can get them from the Library at any time.
[column 16]Q3. Mr. David Porter
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Porter
As many East Anglian people are worried that Suffolk and Norfolk may miss out on the benefits of 1992 and the Channel tunnel, can my right hon. Friend reassure East Anglians on the coast that road and rail investment will not be left behind, and that the persistent long-term unemployment there will give way to the prosperity which is now being enjoyed by most other parts of the United Kingdom?
The Prime Minister
We recognise that East Anglia is a very important area of economic growth, and our substantial and continuing programme of road improvements includes 29 schemes, worth about £220 million, in East Anglia. We have also recently approved investment in electrification from Cambridge to King's Lynn and in new rolling stock to relieve overcrowding. I am pleased to see that East Anglia now has the lowest rate of unemployment of all the regions.
Mr. Kinnock
Does the Prime Minister recall that when she started raising interest rates last year, inflation was just over 4 per cent.? It is now just under 8 per cent. What has gone wrong?
The Prime Minister
The raising of interest rates will gradually work to choke inflation down. I am the first to say that what we regard as one of our less good performances was regarded by Labour as its best.
Mr. Kinnock
On present trends, what level of interest rate will have to be charged in order to reach the right hon. Lady's objective of zero inflation?
The Prime Minister
Those who wish for specific answers on interest rates can only be seeking to help the speculators.
Q4. Mr. Ian Taylor
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Taylor
I am sure that my right hon. Friend will join all Conservative Members in wishing NATO a happy 40th birthday. Will she note that we encourage her to hold further discussions with President Gorbachev during his visit about the need for further and deep cuts in conventional forces and chemical weapons on the Soviet side? Will she also note that a recent opinion poll has shown widespread support for steadfast British defence policies, and that the British Government do not need to go cap in hand to Moscow to find a defence policy?
The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. Friend, and I think that most British people agree, that NATO has kept the peace successfully for 40 years. It is needed as much in the future as it was in the past. It is vital that we keep in step with America and Canada on NATO.
I agree that we must modernise our forces, including nuclear forces. NATO has already agreed that they must be modernised, on the basis that obsolete weapons do not deter. What is at issue is the precise timing of that [column 17]modernisation. I shall discuss that with Mr. Gorbachev. The Russians have already modernised their short-range nuclear weapons.
Q5. Mr. Vaz
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Vaz
The Prime Minister will recall encouraging millions of people throughout the country to buy their own council homes. Will she now put the Government's money where her mouth is or, rather, was, and provide financial assistance to constituents of mine and other hon. Members who have taken her at her word, purchased their council houses and found them to be seriously defective? Will she support people such as my constituents on the Morton estate, or will she abandon them as she has abandoned millions of people who have been deceived by the Government's policies?
The Prime Minister
Well over 1 million people have purchased their council homes at a very substantial discount and I hope that more will take advantage of that opportunity. It is an opportunity which the Labour party fought against and which was provided by this Government.
Q7. Mr. Oppenheim
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Oppenheim
Will my right hon. Friend take time today to congratulate the designers, craftsmen and managers of Rolls-Royce, who have just won yet another huge order for aero-engines in the teeth of fierce world competition, this time for 20 Cathay Pacific Airbuses? Does this not show that British high technology products can and do sell on world markets?
The Prime Minister
Yes, I warmly congratulate Rolls-Royce on this excellent £1 billion order for engines for the Airbus and, of course, the order will also help British Aerospace. It is very good news and shows that British industry at its best can compete with the best in the world.
Mr. Robert Hughes
Will the Prime Minister have a word today with the Secretary of State for Transport about the disgraceful decision to hold up yet again the report on the Chinook disaster, apparently at the behest of the Boeing company? Does she accept that we must have absolute faith in the integrity of official reports into accidents, for the safety of the thousands of people who use helicopters in the North sea? Will she ask the Secretary of State to make a statement to the effect that he will publish that report in full without one comma or jot changed, in order to assure us that we have that integrity?
The Prime Minister
My right hon. Friend Paul Channonthe Secretary of State for Transport is following the procedures laid [column 17]down by Parliament in the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Accidents) Regulations 1983. Subject to any legal constraints, I expect the air accidents investigation branch report and the report of the review board to be published very shortly. The hon. Gentleman will know that publication of the reports before the contentions of the Boeing company are adequately considered would be against the regulations and could invite a conclusion that the publication might be regarded as prejudging the question of a rehearing. My right hon. Friend is following precisely the law as laid down by the House.
Q8. Mr. Riddick
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 4 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Riddick
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the KGB defector Major Levchenko, revealed that the spying activities of the KGB reached their peak during the years of detente in the 1970s? Can she confirm that KGB espionage activities—[Hon. Members: “Reading.” ]
Mr. Speaker
Order. Give him a chance.
Mr. Riddick
Can my right hon. Friend confirm that KGB espionage activities are increasing now and have increased since President Gorbachev came to power and, indeed, since glasnost was introduced? [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker
Order. It does not help the hon. Member.
Mr. Riddick
Is this not a clear demonstration that, despite Mr. Gorbachev 's slick PR image, the West cannot afford to lower its guard?
The Prime Minister
As my hon. Friend is aware, we believe that defence matters do not depend on good intentions but on a sure and strong defence. We find no reduction the world over in the activities of the KGB.
Mr. Wareing
During the last football season there were 33 arrests associated with matches at Liverpool, 24 arrests at Everton and 38 at Manchester United. At Hampden Park, Glasgow, there were 152 arrests and at Ibrox Park, the home of Glasgow Rangers, there were 407 arrests. Yet it is the supporters of English clubs—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker
Order. Will the hon. Gentleman make his question brief?
Mr. Wareing
It is the supporters of English clubs who are to be penalised by the identity card system. [Interruption.] Will the Prime Minister tell us where the sense is in that?
The Prime Minister
I heard the statistics given by the hon. Gentleman, but the rest of his question was drowned. Last year in England and Wales as a whole there were about 6,000 arrests and it was, therefore, important for us to take action to bring in membership cards. We have done that.