PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Q1. Mr. Oppenheim
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. Later this afternoon I shall leave for Turkey to be present at the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing tomorrow.
Mr. Oppenheim
When my right hon. Friend has an opportunity, will she remind Chancellor Kohl and President Mitterrand that their countries have steadfastly refused fully to open their markets in areas such as telecommunications, transport and air travel? Will she also take the opportunity to remind them that it is complete nonsense to talk about political and economic union when we have not yet even achieved a fully open internal market?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend makes his point very well. I agree that it is far better to complete the task that we already have in hand, especially the completion of the single market, to ensure that there is fair competition throughout the Community and that the directives for the single market are enforced equally throughout the Community.
When it comes to other matters such as political union, it is best first to define that, because it means different things to different countries. If it goes to the root of different institutions we would have quite a lot to say, including the fact that the powers of national Parliaments must continue to be conserved and that the Community should do only those things that it can do better than individual countries.
Mr. Kinnock
Following the right hon. Lady's inquiries, does she now think that it is true that Walter Somers and her hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sir H. Miller) were told by the Department of Trade and Industry that the export order to Iraq did not need a licence?
The Prime Minister
I made the position on export licences for the gun absolutely clear in my answers to the right hon. Gentleman last week. My hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sir H. Miller) has provided some very helpful details and officials are matching them with their records and recollections. Investigations are in hand by Customs and Excise which is the proper authority to discover the facts and it is getting together all the documents. It is for Customs and Excise to make a [column 155]decision on how to proceed. In the meantime, we should congratulate it on intercepting the parts of the gun before they reached Iraq.
Mr. Kinnock
I am grateful to the Prime Minister and I warmly endorse her congratulations, which have been well earned, to Customs and Excise. If a company that has experience in these matters says to a Government Department, “We have doubts about an order” ; “we are willing to carry on with that order” ; or “we are willing to have it traced” , what advice does the Prime Minister think such a company should receive from a Government Department?
The Prime Minister
The first advice to any investigating authority is to find out all the facts. That is the task of Customs and Excise, which, as it is the authority which decides whether there should be any prosecution, is the investigating authority—all the facts, and find them first.
Q2. Mr. Bowis
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Bowis
Has my right hon. Friend had time to read the review of the top European companies in The Sunday Times, which shows that of the top 50, two came from Germany, eight from France and 28 from Britain? Will my right hon. Friend find time to congratulate each and every one of those British companies and will she use all her persuasive powers to get the tiniest little cheer on behalf of British achievement from the Leader of the Opposition?
The Prime Minister
Yes, I saw the report in The Sunday Times and gladly offer our congratulations to those British firms among the top 50 companies, which are quite excellent and give a great lead to Europe. It also augurs well for the Government's policies. We do not want protectionism for Britain because we can compete in the markets of the world and implement all the Common Market directives. We hope that others will follow our example.
Mr. Beggs
Is the Prime Minister aware that families in Northern Ireland have to pay £5 to £6 per week more for energy because we are cut off from the national gas grid in Great Britain? Is she aware of the proposal, presently funded to the tune of £100 million by the EEC, to pipe gas from Morecambe bay to Dundalk in the Irish Republic? What will she do to ensure that gas for the Irish Republic? What will she do to ensure that gas for the Irish Republic from Morecambe bay is routed through Northern Ireland?
The Prime Minister
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the town gas industry in Northern Ireland was closed down many years ago because it was not economic and it would be enormously expensive to start it up again. A few years ago we considered the possibility of obtaining gas from Kinsale in the Republic, but we came to the conclusion that it was just not worth the colossal expenditure, and I think that that would be our conclusion about the present proposal.
Q3. Mr. Raffan
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago. [Interruption.]
[column 156]Mr. Speaker
Order. May I ask hon. Members below the Gangway not to carry on conversations? It is very disruptive.
Mr. Raffan
Does my right hon. Friend agree that a Scotsman sitting for a Welsh seat can face as great a dilemma about which team to support as an Asian living in Bradford? Does she further agree that the true test of a person's loyalty to his country is the contribution that he makes to it, not which cricket team he cheers, and that we can look forward to as viable a contribution from the Hong Kong Chinese who come here as we have long had from the West Indians, the Ugandan Asians and many others?
The Prime Minister
I gladly—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker
Order. The Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister
I gladly pay tribute to the contribution made by all communities to Britain's national life. We are pleased that the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill had a good Second Reading and that the Labour party's squalid, cynical and opportunistic behaviour on that Bill has been so widely recognised for what it was.
Mr. Martlew
Will the Prime Minister join me in condemning the group of general practitioners who banned constituents of mine from their future lists because those constituents live on two council estates? The doctors said that they were expensive and difficult patients to treat. Does not that prove our argument that the general practitioners' contracts will mean a two-tier service—a well-financed and well-organised service for the rich, and a second-rate, second-class service for the rest?
The Prime Minister
No. The hon. Gentleman is aware of the details of the case that he mentions, and knows that the practice in question was pursuing only its usual policy in respect of the areas from which it takes patients. The council estates are some way from that particular practice. The general practitioners concerned have written a public letter, in which they make it clear that there was nothing unusual about their decision and that they were following only their usual policy. No part of their action was due to reforms of the National Health Service.
Q4. Mr. Bevan
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Bevan
Does my right hon. Friend agree that Britain needs a high-wage, high-productivity economy to produce the type of industry that this country requires? Does my right hon. Friend further agree that the settlement reached at Longbridge proves that management, by employing large sums of capital, can create even more highly paid jobs round the clock—and in that instance produce fine motor cars?
The Prime Minister
Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend that high wages must be earned by high productivity—and, we hope, with something left over to help reduce prices to the consumer. I congratulate Rover on the agreement that it reached, which provides for the first time in this country continuous operation for 24 hours a day, seven days a week—which will lead to 1,200 extra jobs and [column 157]increased productivity. Rover becoming one of this country's most efficient manufacturers, producing about 20 vehicles per employee, compared with only six in 1979.
Mr. Kaufman
Thanks to its workers.
The Prime Minister
Yes, they are to be thoroughly congratulated. I hope that Britain will achieve more sales at home and more exports.
Q5. Mr. Matthew Taylor
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Taylor
With the number of people undergoing eyesight tests falling by one third since the introduction of charges, and with one optician in five threatened with closure—one practice closed in my own constituency only today—will the Prime Minister review the introduction of charges for eye tests and at least help all old-age pensioners, who comprise the group most at risk from eye diseases that are in some cases sight threatening and life threatening—and who, by and large, are those least able to pay?
The Prime Minister
No. Quite naturally, the number of eye tests increased shortly before charges were introduced, so it is not surprising that it has fallen subsequently. As the hon. Gentleman knows, there are special arrangements for people who have particularly bad eyesight or who are related to those who suffer from conditions such as glaucoma.
Mr. Rhodes James
Is my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister aware that those of us who have close, family connections with the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 are very glad that she is to attend the commemoration marking its 75th anniversary? Will my right hon. Friend also emphasise that ANZAC day for the Australians and New [column 158]Zealanders, like Remembrance Sunday for us, is a very sacred day when, blessedly, party politics are forgotten and we remember those who served and suffered so that we may live in freedom and peace?
The Prime Minister
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and thank him for letting me have his book on the Gallipoli campaign. We shall not only remember our dead from all parts of the United Kingdom, but we shall pay tribute especially to those from Australia and New Zealand who played such a glorious part in that battle. We shall all commemorate it in precisely the spirit expressed by my hon. Friend.
Q6. Ms. Mowlam
To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 24 April.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Ms. Mowlam
Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that Customs and Excise cannot be expected to decide which Government Department is responsible for the Iraqi gun affair? Will she therefore now tell the House which Department and which Minister is responsible?
The Prime Minister
Customs and Excise, in a case such as this, is the prosecuting authority. It is not for Government Departments to decide whether there was anything wrong in the application. That is for Customs and Excise. It cannot do that until it has completed the investigation.
Hon. Members
Answer.
Mr. Speaker
Order. The Prime Minister must have a chance to answer.
The Prime Minister
In all legal matters, as I said to the Leader of the Opposition, it is as well to find out all the facts, particularly before Customs and Excise can reach a conclusion.