PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Q1. Mr. Dykes
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March 1990.
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. This evening I hope to have an audience of Her Majesty the Queen.
Mr. Dykes
I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Will she confirm that the last remaining obstacle to early British entry into the exchange rate mechanism is the present temporary high rate of inflation?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is not quite right. In view of the statement made in Madrid, and repeated by my right hon. Friend John Majorthe Chancellor of the Exchequer, my hon. Friend will know that it is absolutely vital that we have free movement of capital throughout the Community. That condition has not yet been satisfied and is one factor. We must get our own rate of inflation down and we must have proper competition throughout the Community.
Mr. Kinnock
Is it not evident from that reply that the Prime Minister has absolutely no serious intention of joining the exchange rate mechanism for as long as she survives?
The Prime Minister
No, not in the least—I stand by the statement that we made in Madrid. I was not able to join the EMS during my first decade—I hope to do so during my second.
Mr. Kinnock
Does the right hon. Lady not agree with the view expressed by the former Chancellor last night that Britain's non-membership of the EMS is an exposed flank? As a result is it not clear that last night she was savaged by a live scapegoat?
The Prime Minister
I am sure that my right hon. Friend Nigel Lawsonthe former Chancellor would be the first to agree about the need to get inflation down. That is the top priority.
[column 204]Mr. Kinnock
So will the Prime Minister tell us whether she believes that, to use the phrase of the right hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson), the current pace is “too leisurely” ?
The Prime Minister
I reaffirm what I said in Madrid and what I have said in my two previous answers. We are committed to joining the exchange rate mechanism and we shall do so when the Madrid conditions are fulfilled. They are not fulfilled yet.
Q2. Mr. Gorst
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Gorst
Does my right hon. Friend recall that at the end of last week she said that she had received a message from the electors of Mid-Staffordshire? In her characteristically forthright fashion, will she send a message back to them to the effect that, local difficulties apart, the Government have a lot of important business to transact in the next few months and that when that business has been dispatched they will certainly wish to dispatch the temporary representative?
The Prime Minister
Yes, I think that my hon. Friend has got it absolutely right. We hope and expect to win back that constituency in the general election, as we have won back seats from previous by-elections.
Q3. Mrs. Ray Michie
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mrs. Michie
What message of hope has the Prime Minister for the hard-pressed and beleaguered Scottish fishing industry? Will she allow that vital indigenous industry to go to the wall as so many others have?
The Prime Minister
The hon. Lady is well aware that part of the fishing grounds have been significantly overfished. There is a need to conserve the fish. Although in recent months the fishermen have not been able to land the same weight as previously, they have been getting much better prices. We are in close touch with the Commission and are carefully watching the effect of East German entry on the common fisheries policy. We will ensure that East Germany does not take the quota that we regard as ours.
Mr. Haselhurst
Can my right hon. Friend say whether the unequivocal assurance given by the Government in the White Paper, “Airports Policy” , in 1985—that there would not be a second runway at Stansted—is as unequivocal now as it was then?
The Prime Minister
I have no reason to think that there has been any change whatsoever.
Q4. Mr. Ernie Ross
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Ross
Does the Prime Minister agree with the view of the Secretary of State for Scotland that the disastrous [column 205]mishandling of the poll tax issue in the Budget was a victory for him over her—or, in his words, that on this issue she feel onto line with his better judgment?
The Prime Minister
No, that showed how generous are the resources available to Scotland. The £9,500 million enabled Malcolm Rifkindmy right hon. and learned Friend easily to take £4 million to help the people who have been paying community charge for longer than those in England.
Mr. Colvin
May I ask the Prime Minister to imagine that the community charge had been in operation for the past 100 years? If that were so, what does my right hon. Friend think that householders would be saying to one another if the Government were about to introduce a system of household domestic rates?
The Prime Minister
I think that my hon. Friend has made a clever point. My imagination does not go back 100 years, but the essential point that my hon. Friend makes is that the rates were the most unfair and unpopular tax of all, and they are being replaced by a fairer tax that will in time prove much better.
Q5. Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Campbell-Savours
Last night the former Chancellor and the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine) both refused to support the Prime Minister in the Lobby in a Division on the poll tax—despite the fact that only hours previously the right hon. Member for Henley had been driven into a loyalty oath in favour of the Prime Minister. What does she think of those two right hon. Gentlemen now? Does she believe that the loyalty oath was hollow? Is this the first time that a Chancellor has expressed a reservation on the poll tax?
The Prime Minister
I must ask my right hon. Friend the Timothy Rentonthe Patronage Secretary to have a quiet word with them and see what that will do.
Mr. Gale
Does my right hon. Friend recognise that because of her special relationship with Mr. Gorbachev she is better placed than any other world leader to send a clear message to the Soviet Union that armed intervention in Lithuania is no more acceptable today than it was in Czechoslovakia and Hungary? Will she please do so?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend will be aware of my previous replies. The people of Lithuania have made clear their wish to determine their own future. Furthermore, we have never recognised the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union as legal, although it was recognised in fact in the Helsinki accords. Undoubtedly this is a very difficult situation, both for President Gorbachev and for the people of Lithuania. I believe that it calls for great restraint on both sides. Force is not an appropriate way to settle the position. I hope that it will be settled by restraint on both sides and by their discussing it so that they come to a satisfactory conclusion. That view was also taken by the 12 Foreign Secretaries of the Community.
Q6. Mr. Watson
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
[column 206]The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Watson
The Prime Minister will be aware of the statement by the Secretary of State for Scotland at the weekend to the effect that he had been involved in politics prior to her becoming leader of her party and that he would continue to be so involved when she was no longer the leader of her party. Does not the Prime Minister think it more likely that the general election will sound the death knell of both simultaneously?
The Prime Minister
My right hon. and learned Friend Malcolm Rifkindthe Secretary of State for Scotland is a young and able man. I am sure that he will still be here at this Dispatch Box in a Conservative Government long after I am not.
Q7. Mr. Hind
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Hind
My right hon. Friend is aware that high-spending councils such as Lancashire have levied a 17.5 per cent. increase in their expenditure this year. Does she agree that they are playing their part in increasing inflation, that they must recognise that that is their role and that they must look carefully at their finances with a view to restraining increases next year?
The Prime Minister
I agree with my hon. Friend. Lancashire and a number of other Labour authorities are accepting some of the advice given in one of the Labour documents—to set the community charge as high as they can possibly get away with. That is what they have done. It adds to inflation and it puts a heavy burden on all their local electors who will have to pay far more community charge than they ought, had those councils adhered to the Government's standard spending recommendations.
Q8. Mr. Alton
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March 1990.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Alton
In view of the answer that the Prime Minister gave a few moments ago, will she say in what way the Lithuanian people should show restraint, given that since 1939 their country has been annexed by and forcibly occupied by the Soviet Union and that the aggression in Lithuania now is coming entirely from the Soviet Union? Does she not believe that the Government of President Landsbergis should be recognised as the Government of that country?
The Prime Minister
I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would agree that the situation there is very difficult indeed, that it does not help to be provocative in any way, on either side, and that the only way is for both groups of people to sit down, try to work things through by dialogue and come to a satisfactory settlement. We had hoped last night when we saw people in Lithuania and people in the red army sitting down together that they were well on the way to doing that. It does require dialogue between politicians. We support such a dialogue, and so does the whole of the European Community.
Mr. Favell
Would my right hon. Friend care to contemplate the fact that in the 1980s shops and hotels had [column 207]to put the customer first, with fewer people, factories had to produce more goods with a smaller work force and even the professions had to learn that the world did not revolve around them, but for local authorities the party has gone merrily on? Is there any earthly reason why that should be so?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend makes the point effectively. Output has gone up in factories and offices, with fewer people, and by that means we have achieved a higher standard of living. Unfortunately, the numbers employed by local authorities have continued to rise, and we have reason to ask whether they could achieve greater administration with fewer people, which would bring down the community charge.
Q9. Miss Hoey
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 March.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
[column 208]Miss Hoey
Does the Prime Minister agree with her supporter, the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine), who in a recent radio interview called for the police to sweep the homeless off the streets and close the cardboard cities? Where does she think he might like them to be swept to?
The Prime Minister
There are about 21,000 hostel places available in the London area, many more than there used to be, of which about 3,000 are available at short notice. They are not always filled and it would be better if people spent the night in the beds in those hostels than on the streets of London.
The hon. Lady will be aware that £250 million funding was recently announced to help the homeless, and recently £148 million of that—a considerable sum—was made available for London and the south-east, some to local authorities and some to housing associations, to help resolve the problem.