Reg Harcourt, Central TV
You have appointed a West Midlands Minister but with no hard cash, whereas the Labour party are coming up with pledges of £550 million to be spent in the West Midlands on West Midlands industries every year?
MT
And they're pledging it all over the place. Where are they going to take it from? Don't forget … .
Reg Harcourt, Central TV
From North Sea oil, from the savings on people who would have been on the dole …
MT
North Sea oil! May I tell you, the last time the Labour party were in office, they left, saddled round the necks of the people of this country, a debt of $22 billion. They went to the IMF. They spent every penny piece. By 1976, there wasn't a person in the world or in this country who'd lend Labour more, so badly were they running our finances. The reserves went right down to $4 billion, and that is all published reserves. They left us a $22 billion debt. I, through a deep recession, have actually managed to repay $10 billion. Still saddled with Labour's debt round this country, we have $12 billion, and they propose to borrow more. They're promising it all over the place. They don't tell you where they are going to get it from. It was Labour that put a tax on jobs for the National Insurance surcharge. It's the a Tory Government that's taken off that tax on jobs, to the extent of two billion; two billion back into the private sector to help with genuine jobs. Never trust a Government that tells you it's going to spend, but doesn't tell you where it's going to get the money from, and previously left our children with that load of debt round their necks. I have supreme contempt for that kind of electioneering.
Reg Harcourt, Central TV
The problem is, that if people accept your way, how long have they got to wait for these real genuine jobs to come to the Midlands?
MT
That will depend on the talent of people in industry. Whether they've designed the best cars. Now, you can't say there's any shortage of demand for cars in this country, none at all. Enormous demand for cars, but, in the car heartland, we are only in fact satisfying—us—under 50%; of that demand. We're doing better. Jaguar are doing marvellously.
Reg Harcourt, Central TV
Why not spend more here, Prime Minister, to boost that car industry now it's beginning to move?
MT
With all due respect, £1.2 billion has gone into that car industry in the lifetime of this Government, £1.2 billion. You have to ask people, why do they prefer to buy foreign cars to British? You have to ask people why they use their hard earned wages to buy foreign goods rather than British. They will tell you, either they like the design better, [end p1] or they will tell you either they're better value. So the only fundamental way to get and keep more jobs here, is to do better design and better value. Don't look for an easy way. It'll land you in more debt and it won't build up your industries. Look for the way which says, “We have the talent, we have the ability.” The customers are there. The demand is there. Retail sales are up. We have to fill that demand with our goods. I can't do it. I can't design a car, design a fabric. We train people who can. We spend a lot of money on training people who can. We're going to universities, the polytechnics, or in advanced further education colleges or the art colleges or the business schools. They have to rise to the opportunities. They can and are doing so.
Reg Harcourt, Central TV
So the man on the dole has to wait and be patient for things to get better. That's all you can say to him?
MT
The man on the dole has a far better opportunity in the future with our policies, which are tackling the real problems, than with Labour policies, which simply say, “Right, we're going to take more money out of tax” —which in fact would take more money out of existing productive industry—or “We're going to print it” —which devalues every pound that people have saved in building societies, in National Savings, or they've just kept in cash. That's some advertisement, isn't it? To say “We're going to plunder your savings by printing money,” or they're going to borrow it. Up will go the interest rates and they'll come to a time where the same thing will happen as happened before. No-one overseas would lend the last Labour Government a penny piece. No-one in this country. They couldn't borrow anything. That was the time when he had to turn round at Heathrow airport, because he couldn't even go to the IMF conference, and he had to come back. No, that was humiliating for Britain. Just let us have a little bit of pride and see if we can design. We are good at invention. We are getting co-operation going. You don't find many strikes in private industry today. Work on the good things and rise to the challenge instead of saying, “Never mind, boys, we'll tax people, print more money, or borrow more money,” because you can't.