MT
Hello Michael, come in.
Michael Forsyth
Hello Prime Minister.
MT
Allan Stewart 's just been in to see me about the problem he's got in his constituency.
Michael Forsyth
Yes he's been telling me about that.
MT
Yes. He's got some redundancies, which is …
Michael Forsyth
Yes. He's very concerned about it. In fact I think he's been to see the factory.
MT
I know he has. And done as much as he possibly can. We've got the SDA on to it now.
Michael Forsyth
Mm. I loved your line at PM's Questions today about the roof tax.
MT
It either comes out or it doesn't. You either just think of a line … . Really the idea of a roof tax, which means that everyone—whether you own the house or whether you are a tenant—is taxed on the capital value of the house I think is absurd.
Michael Forsyth
Well, we had quite a good week in Scotland because of course the Labour Party not only announced that, but we went up five points in the polls.
MT
Oh good.
Michael Forsyth
… long way to go …
MT
You must come and see me again. Laughter
Michael Forsyth
inaudible word or two
MT
That's very good news. [end p1]
Michael Forsyth
And the, er, announcement of the roof tax has gone done very very badly.
MT
Yes.
Michael Forsyth
None of the press are supporting it.
MT
No. It's not easy to get the right tax to help finance local authorities. But I think on community charge we've got the best one, so far.
Michael Forsyth
Yes. Quite. Of course that has been the main benefit to us, because it has focused people's attention on what are the alternatives, and of course the Labour Party are now saying that a local income tax won't work, which we know, and a roof tax is very unpopular, so council tenants … inaudible
MT
Yes. I see there's quite a good family expenditure survey out today, indicating, you know, how the standard of living has risen, in Scotland as elsewhere.
Michael Forsyth
Well there was a quality of life survey done which took other things as well as income, because we've got high income, which concluded that Scotland had the highest standard of living in terms of the quality of life, of any part of the United Kingdom.
MT
I'm not surprised. It's lovely, absolutely beautiful—both the cities and the scenery. I love it. I think that … we appreciate it because we're not there quite so often, but I think you don't always when you live there.
Michael Forsyth
Mm. Mind you, talking to some parliamentary colleagues, they say you spend a lot more time in Scotland than in other parts of the United Kingdom.
MT
Well, yes I do try to. I like it very much. Last time we went to Dundee I thought they were doing, starting to do very well too, which pleased me enormously.
Michael Forsyth
Yes and you went to that sweet factory with the skullcrushers …
MT
Yes.
Michael Forsyth
… and all these frightful sweets.
MT
The whole of the oil business has come back now. You know when the price went down from, er, what it had been, down to below ten, it was very difficult. It's back up now—about twenty dollars. It makes an enormous difference, because it's thought they couldn't quickly increase the output, even, even against a world demand, so that I think that … Tape ends.