WEST YORKSHIRE
Q1. Mr. Cryer
asked the Prime Minister when she next proposes to visit West Yorkshire.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
I have at present no plans to do so.
Mr. Cryer
Does the Prime Minister agree that freedom of speech is important in West Yorkshire, as in the rest of the country? Will she condemn the wrecking tactics of British Leyland management in seeking to victimise a shop steward who has a different opinion from that of the management? Will she support the trade union leaders and workers who are taking action to defend freedom of speech in this country? Does she also agree that Michael Edwardes is becoming increasingly like the mole of British Leyland—wrecking the firm from within?
The Prime Minister
As the hon. Gentleman knows, these are matters for the management of British Leyland and not for me. I shall leave the management of British Leyland to the management.
PRIME MINISTER
(ENGAGEMENTS)
Q2. Mr. Canavan
asked the Prime Minister whether she will list her official engagements for 20 November.
The Prime Minister
This morning I had further talks with President Giscard and we gave a joint press conference. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be holding meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. This evening I hope to have an Audience of Her Majesty The Queen.
Mr. Canavan
While preparing for her speech tomorrow, will the Prime Minister find out whether the fact that a self-confessed traitor managed to find shelter for 14 years in the Royal Household was [column 203]known all along to the head of that household?
The Prime Minister
For reasons that I think that the hon. Gentleman and the whole House will understand, I prefer not to make any further comment today. We have a full debate tomorrow. The answer that I gave last Thursday was measured and considered and I should like anything else I say to have equal measurement and consideration.
Mr. Neubert
In the light of recent developments and Mr. Anthony Blunt 's statement today, can my right hon. Friend say whether the Government have changed their attitude towards the Protection of Official Information Bill, which is in another place?
The Prime Minister
My right hon. Friend and I have had a certain amount of—[Interruption.] On our side, we do talk to one another. My right hon. Friend and I have discussed the future of the Protection of Official Information Bill and have decided that, with the leave of the House of Lords, it would be right for the Bill not to proceed further in the present circumstances.
Mr. Race
As the Prime Minister and her Ministers are so keen on telling us that we should all live within our means, will she accept my invitation to take a job for a week as a lavatory attendant, in order that she may see for herself what it means to live within one's means on a wage of £48.66 a week? If she accepts the invitation, will she report to the House how she managed her family budget over that week?
The Prime Minister
I scarcely think that the hon. Gentleman's question requires a deep answer. I am happy to continue in my present job, and to do it as well as I can without any increase in pay.
Mr. John Townend
Will my right hon. Friend find time today to send congratulations to President Sadat on his courageous action in offering asylum to the Shah of Iran? Will she, on behalf of the British Government, send a similar invitation?
The Prime Minister
As my hon. Friend knows, the situation in Iran is very grievous for the American hostages. We [column 204]have great sympathy for President Carter and admire the restraint with which he has dealt with this situation and his refusal to yield to blackmail. It would be unwise for us to go further than that.
Q3. Mr. Winnick
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 20 November.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I have just given.
Mr. Winnick
Is the right hon. Lady aware of the extreme unpopularity of her Administration as the economic crisis deepens and prices and charges go up constantly, to be followed by the further blow to mortgages next year? When will she have the courage to put Britain's interests before her own and resign her office?
The Prime Minister
I hope that one quality in which I am not lacking is courage. When hon. Members on both sides of the House give their support to enabling the nation to live within its means, which includes enabling the Government to live within the nation's means, we shall be able to take firm steps to get interest rates down and to take other advantageous measures in reducing tax rates.
Mr. Robert Atkins
Will my right hon. Friend find time during her busy day to cast her eye over the district auditor's report on the London borough of Lambeth and to consider the Socialist record of the London borough of Haringey, represented, so regrettably, by the hon. Member for Wood Green (Mr. Race)? Will she compare the records of those profligate Socialist authorities with the likes of the borough of Preston, Tory-controlled for three years, which has managed to reduce its rates from 32p to 8p in the pound? Will she draw any conclusions from that comparison?
The Prime Minister
If those figures are correct, I must, indeed, congratulate Tory-controlled Preston. I hope that all local authorities will follow its example and spend ratepayers' money very sparingly.
Mr. Wellbeloved
Will the Prime Minister take her courage in both hands and find time today to explain to the [column 205]TUC that, having allowed her Ministers to accept pay increases ranging up to £136 a week, neither she nor her colleagues in the Cabinet have the authority or moral credibility any longer to urge wage restraint on working men and women?
The Prime Minister
I rather thought that pay increases concerning this House were approved by this House as a whole.
Mr. Stokes
Before my right hon. Friend makes her statement on the Blunt affair tomorrow, will she realise that most of the furore over the case has been created by journalists? The public's only interest is to see that it never happens again and that any traitors who are discovered should be immediately punished.
The Prime Minister
May I make just one comment? My concern and duty are with the efficiency and morale of the security services. I put that first.
Q4. Mr. Sever
asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 20 November.
The Prime Minister
I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave earlier.
Mr. Sever
In what is obviously a busy day, will the Prime Minister find time to look at the Order Paper and take note of early-day motion 207 and thereafter consult her right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment with a view to allowing Government time for the further progress of the Bill, which was not reached last Friday, presented by my hon. Friend the Member for St. Pancras, North (Mr. Stallard) in order to relieve what is a grave problem for many unfortunate citizens in cities throughout the country?
The Prime Minister
That question should be addressed, perhaps, to one or other of my right hon. Friends. As the hon. Member will know, it is most unusual for a Government to allow time for Private Members' Bills. My understanding is that the Government already have powers to deal with the mischief of which the hon. Gentleman complains.
Mr. Churchill
Does not my right hon. Friend find it strange that so many Opposition Members should be vindictive towards one who followed his Marxist conscience? Will she not yield to their [column 206]pressure to see the dismantling of our security services in the face of a rising Soviet threat?
The Prime Minister
I have in part, already made my position clear. I am very concerned to do my main duty to see that the security services operate efficiently and well. We must recognise that they can do that only if they have a considerable element of secrecy.
Mr. Terry Davis
Will the Prime Minister find time today to reflect on the strange contrast between the treatment of a secret Communist, who has committed treason, and that of an openly Communist shop steward at British Leyland?
The Prime Minister
There is no parallel between the two cases.
Mr. Hal Miller
Will my right hon. Friend take time today to consider with her right hon. Friends amendments to industrial relations legislation with the object of affording some protection to ordinary shop floor workers who wish their company to be successful and who do not wish it to be penalised through being on strike for eight weeks or more, on union instructions? Will she afford them some protection against shop stewards who not only ignore their wishes, as expressed by ballot, but who seek to undermine their companies and their jobs?
The Prime Minister
We had hoped that the shop floor, by its decisive vote, had protected itself. But we shall consider any further matters that my hon. Friend wishes to put before us. We are anxious that the shop floor should be protected.
Mr. Heffer
Will the right hon. Lady give a categorical assurance that in no circumstances, despite what has happened in relation to Mr. Blunt, will there be a witch hunt against people for holding Marxist views which, so far as I understand, are not illegal in this country? If we did pursue such witch hunts, we should be pursuing the same policies of discrimination as the Soviet Union.
The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman knows that I am the staunchest defender of freedom of speech and of worship. The question in the Blunt case is not what views people hold but the action that they happen to take.
[column 207]Mr. Marlow
Will my right hon. Friend take time today to tell her colleagues in the Common Market that the present situation in Europe is intolerable for this country, and that we should in future concentrate on devising common policies that suit our common interests rather than trying to divert our interests to suit common policies that just happen to have existed for a period of years?
The Prime Minister
I saw some of our Common Market friends earlier today, and I have made two things very clear. The first was that half a loaf would not be enough and that we follow the traditional British literary example of asking for more. The second was that a treaty of the kind in question must be in tune with the needs of the times, and that a very good Conservative maxim is that change is the means of conservation.
ENERGY SOURCES
Q5. Mr. Gwilym Roberts
asked the Prime Minister if she will initiate discussions with Heads of Governments in other major countries with the aim of co-operating in developing alternative energy sources.
The Prime Minister
This issue was discussed at the Tokyo summit in June, on which I have already reported to the House. It was agreed there that an International [column 208]Energy Technology Group linked to the OECD and the IEA should be created. That group will review the action already being taken and the potential for commercial development of alternative energy sources.
Mr. Roberts
Will not the right hon. Lady accept that progress is still lamentably slow and that the main obstacles to the development of some alternative sources, particularly solar energy, are political? Will she use some of the courage to which she modestly referred earlier to tackle other Heads of Government on this matter?
The Prime Minister
I do not think that there is any political difficulty about the development of solar energy. One of the problems is that in this country we should not get much out of expenditure on solar energy. We shall need far more than that. The political difficulties—and they are not party political difficulties—arise on the further development of nuclear energy. As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have made my own views on that matter very clear.
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS, &c.
Ordered.
That the draft Building Societies (Special Advances) Order 1979 be referred to a Standing Committee on Statutory Instruments, &c.—[Mr. St. John-Stevas.]