Engagements

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 28 June 1984.

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Photo of Tim Yeo Tim Yeo , South Suffolk 12:00, 28 June 1984

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 28 June.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

This morning I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.

Photo of Tim Yeo Tim Yeo , South Suffolk

Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming most warmly the speech that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made yesterday, underlining the importance of improved East-West relations and of multilateral disarmament? Will she ask my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary to take the opportunity of his forthcoming visit to the Soviet Union to develop that theme by increasing pressure on the Soviet Union in regard to human rights issues?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. My right hon. Friend's remarks confirm what was said at the London economic summit on this matter. They confirm the approach of unity, resolve, dialogue and co-operation. We must also never forget that some human rights are not upheld in the Soviet Union and we must make representations about them, especially in regard to the plight of Sakharov, Mrs. Bonner, Shcharansky and many others whose names we do not know. I am sure that my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary will do that.

Photo of Mr Roy Mason Mr Roy Mason , Barnsley Central

After 17 weeks of an overtime ban and 16 weeks of a strike, and with no end in sight to the dispute, will the Prime Minister now become a promoter of conciliation between the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers, instead of standing by and allowing the coal industry to fall into disrepair and gradual destruction?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I hope that there will be conciliation between the miners who work, the miners who are on strike—they are by no means all—and the National Coal Board. As the right hon. Gentleman is aware, two out of the three trade unions involved in the coal industry are prepared to sit down and discuss the future "Plan for Coal". We shall never get the industry going again successfully until work force and management are prepared to sit down together. The Government have done their part by saying that money is available for an excellent pay settlement, which puts miners' pay some 25 per cent. above the rest of industry, by showing that investment plans in "Plan for Coal" have been more than carried out, by saying that there is no need for compulsory redundancies and by providing excellent money for voluntary redundancies.

Photo of Mr Anthony Nelson Mr Anthony Nelson , Chichester

asked the Prime Minister whether she will list her official engagements for Thursday 28 June.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Photo of Mr Anthony Nelson Mr Anthony Nelson , Chichester

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the announcement which has just been made by STC and ITT of a £900 million investment and the creation of some 5,000 jobs over the next five years is good news for Britain, a reflection of the technological skills that are available in Britain and the clearest possible further evidence of confidence in the Government's economic and industrial policies?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I thought that the news from both of those great companies was good for jobs, and shows that they think there is a great future for jobs in the new electronics and technological industries.

Photo of Mr Bill O'Brien Mr Bill O'Brien , Normanton

Will the Prime Minister note that in St. James's hospital in Leeds no fewer than 2,142 appointments for inpatients were cancelled because of the shortage of beds? One of my constituents has had four appointments cancelled. When the Prime Minister states that the Health Service is safe in her hands, will she remember that there is a shortage of beds, and will she do something to rectify that anomaly and provide more facilities to accomodate people in need?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

The Government's record on the National Health Service is shown by the fact that far greater numbers of patients have been treated than previously, whether day patients or people who must stay in hospital for longer, and the waiting lists are shorter. The hon. Gentleman cannot criticise our record when it is compared with that of any other Government.

Photo of Mr Peter Hordern Mr Peter Hordern , Horsham

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the House is being used too much for the convenience of the Government and not sufficiently for the convenience of right hon. and hon. Gentlemen? Why can we not consider the Budget proposals and the public expenditure proposals together at the beginning of the year, the Finance Bill by the end of May and rise at the end of June to return in September? Why must we continue to do things in the same way as Mr. Gladstone?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I doubt whether Mr. Gladstone's Government stayed so long on some subjects as we do. However, some of my hon. Friend's proposals are very attractive.

Photo of Mr Neil Kinnock Mr Neil Kinnock Leader of HM Official Opposition, Leader of the Labour Party, Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee

The Prime Minister will recall that last Saturday at the Welsh Conservative party conference she said, of the harrowing experience of the Aberfan disaster, that she hoped it would be possible to make things better—better equipment, better pits, safer and healthier conditions. Is she aware that, as a consequence of cuts in Government grants to the Medical Research Council, the unique pneumoconiosis research unit at Llandough hospital in south Wales is to be closed, together with research programmes into cot deaths and the horrific disease of Huntington's chorea, which are being undertaken in laboratories and hospitals in Cambridge? In the name of plain humanity, and following those instincts which moved her at the time of the disaster, will she ensure that those cuts do not occur?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

The full budget of the Medical Research Council for 1984–85 is £117·2 million. In 1983–84 it was £113 million, in 1982–83 it was £104 million, in 1981–82 it was £101 million, in 1980–81 it was £71 million and in 1979–80 it was £54·4 million. The right hon. Gentleman can see that the Medical Reaseach Council has £117·2 million for this year. How it disburses that expenditure and how it chooses its priority is, and always has been, a matter for the Medical Research Council under each and every Government.

With regard to cot deaths, I understand that the current grant to the team at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, which is developing and testing an artificial lung coating for premaure babies, will end in August. Its research is not into cot deaths, as the press has reported. The Medical Research Council is supporting work on cot deaths at Brompton hospital and at Sheffield university.

Photo of Mr Neil Kinnock Mr Neil Kinnock Leader of HM Official Opposition, Leader of the Labour Party, Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee

Is the Prime Minister aware that not even the Medical Research Council can distribute money that it does not have? There are real cuts of £3 million this year and £2 million next year in the money which the Government propose to allocate to the Medical Research Council. Despite her claims, is she aware that last year's Medical Research Council's report said, There has been no significant growth in real terms over the last four years. Will she now answer the question? Will she ensure that the Medical Research Council, in those essential areas of inquiry and research, is provided with adequate funds so that further suffering and deaths can be prevented, or will she go further in justifying the criticism made by Portsmouth Tories, who called her intractable and uncaring?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

The right hon. Gentleman linked his question to what I said about the coal industry. May I respond in exactly the same way? The worst 12 per cent. of coal production in Britain costs £275 million in subsidies. Perhaps if we could spend less on subsidies to nationalised industries we would have more to spend on medical research.

Photo of Mr Neil Kinnock Mr Neil Kinnock Leader of HM Official Opposition, Leader of the Labour Party, Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee

That was one of the most infamous and callous dodges that even the right hon. Lady has made. If she was investing properly in the pits of south Wales, many fewer men would have pneumoconiosis. That is the way to reduce the need for research.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

Will the right hon. Gentleman release some of the £275 million?

Photo of Mr Clement Freud Mr Clement Freud , North East Cambridgeshire

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 28 June.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Photo of Mr Clement Freud Mr Clement Freud , North East Cambridgeshire

While the Prime Minister pursues her policy of imposing equal misery on all sectors, will she especially examine the Open University, which has had a 10 per cent. increase in its population, a 5 per cent. cut in its grant allocation, which does not have buildings that it can sell nor staff to which it can give early retirement, and which does not even have a University Grants Committee to which it can appeal? Will she ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science to consider carefully its application for further funds?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I cannot agree that there should be any increases in overall expenditure. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that in education, expenditure per pupil has increased, pupil-teacher ratios have fallen and are the best ever, more children are receiving nursery education and more 18-year-olds are entering higher education. That is our record on education as a whole. The hon. Gentleman and his colleagues constantly ask for further public expenditure, but then constantly complain about the level of taxation necessary to meet such expenditure.

Mr. Andy Stewart:

Will my right hon. Friend help Arthur Scargill to estimate the job losses in the steel industry if he continues his arrogant, incompetent actions?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

If the coal strike continues and is able to shut some steel plants there will be enormous job losses in the steel industry, because customers will go away and will never return, even if those plants reopen. If the plants close, there will be even greater job losses in the coal industry, because the National Coal Board supplies 4 million tonnes of coal to the industry. There will be further job losses on the railways, which convey the coal from its source to the steel plants, and job losses in all the industries that depend upon steel and coal for supplying engineering and other materials to them.

Photo of Dr David Owen Dr David Owen , Plymouth, Devonport

Is the Prime Minister aware that many of us are not prepared even to contemplate the steel industry being closed? Why is it that week after week she avoids answering the question for which she is responsible—why the law of the land on secondary picketing is not being invoked? Why is she not prepared to state her view that it should be invoked and why, against all documentary evidence, do the Government continue to persuade the British Steel Corporation not to bring a civil action?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I have continually answered the right hon. Gentleman. The trouble is that he does not like the accurate and true answer. If the BSC wished to use its civil powers to go for an injunction, it would be able to use it. The question that it has to ask is whether that would stop the mischief to which the use would be directed.

Photo of Dr Oonagh McDonald Dr Oonagh McDonald , Thurrock

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 28 June.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Photo of Dr Oonagh McDonald Dr Oonagh McDonald , Thurrock

Why is it that when America is running such a huge budget deficit the dollar is so strong and the pound has hit an all-time low?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

One reason is that interest rates are very much higher and, of course, are making the dollar strong. That is one of the problems with the US deficit. It tends to drag up interest rates all over the rest of the world.

Photo of Gerald Howarth Gerald Howarth , Cannock and Burntwood

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 28 June.

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Photo of Gerald Howarth Gerald Howarth , Cannock and Burntwood

Has my right hon. Friend had time today to read of the decision by the Labour party to plan, together with the NUM, a joint campaign against pit closures? Does she agree that that constitutes an attack by Her Majesty's official Opposition on those men who are working in the mining industry and on those steel workers at Llanwern and Ravenscraig who, at this moment, are fighting for their livelihood?

Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party

I agree that the Labour party is against the working miners. It is supporting the striking miners and is now supporting the striking miners against the steel workers and against all of those who work in industries which need a secure supply of coal and electricity at reasonable prices. The Labour party is against the majority of the people working in industry today.