Mr John Butcher: I compliment the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on his return to the House and on his speech on an issue about which he feels strongly. I share his concern. I hope that we shall be discussing similar issues across the Floor of the House on many occasions in the coming years. Unemployment is inevitably an emotive issue, and hon. Members differ strongly on the methods by which it may...
Mr John Butcher: Is my hon. Friend aware that the all-party committee on citizens' band radio recommended that we use the waveband now being vacated by the 405-line television transmissions? That would not interfere with emergency services or model aircraft. Is my hon. Friend further aware that citizens' band radio saves approximately 2,000 lives per annum in the United States and that 13 European countries...
Mr John Butcher: The hon. Lady will recall that she was the architect of a plan which allowed two years flat from inception to implementation of a full comprehensive scheme involving split sites. I am sure that there are many people in Birmingham who rather regret that they were not allowed adequate consultation when that " reform "—I put the word in inverted commas—went through so rapidly.
Mr John Butcher: Mr. John Butcher (Coventry, South-West) rose—
Mr John Butcher: I thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and the House for your indulgence in tolerating this soirée, which may appear to have been organised by the West Midlands Mafia. I welcome the contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford (Mr. Patten). I join my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Mr. Bevan) in complimenting our hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, West (Mr. Blackburn) on...
Mr John Butcher: I take the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove and Redditch (Mr. Miller). They sell in this country at prices which cannot cover their costs when one adds the costs of transportation and distribution. Some foreign Governments are, like the United Kingdom, bound by international agreements, but they can support their domestic industries through Government purchasing...
Mr John Butcher: I was saying that as believers in true, free and fair trade we should look to our Government for the reciprocity that is exercised by other Governments. We would be doing nothing more and nothing less than the Italians and the French. I drew attention to COMECON, which does not compete fairly, and to what we hope is a short-term problem with Spain and particularly with the Japanese. I am not...
Mr John Butcher: I take issue with the last statement of the hon. Member for Merioneth (Mr. Thomas). No one deliberately creates unemployment, and no Government do. Any Government would hope so to restructure the economy that we obtained a healthier revenue-raising and wealth-creating function. Then we can talk of the social wage on which that is built.
Mr John Butcher: I shall not give way on this occasion, for obvious reasons. I take issue with the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Stoddart) and the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker). They both trotted out the old slogan about the better treatment given to the families of convicted prisoners compared with the potential treatment that the Government might give to the families of strikers. I...
Mr John Butcher: Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the grave concern of major British component manufacturers that together employ about 450,000 people over the proposed BL-Honda deal? Bearing in mind that my right hon. Friend must allow the company's management to manage, will he consider issuing guidance, as do Ministers in other countries, to British car assemblers that there should be minimum...
Mr John Butcher: I listened with great interest to the comments of the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey). I was particularly interested to hear that, in the terms of the amendment, the Opposition maintain that the White Paper will lead to higher unemployment and increasing inflation. I reject that idea completely. The Opposition have not taken into account the fact that public expenditure is also...
Mr John Butcher: No, I cannot give such an undertaking because there are many factors that could complicate the matter. We shall discuss one of them in the next few months—abortion law reform. There are many things that no Chancellor of the Exchequer or Treasury Minister can budget for, but in the education service we have a school career that starts at zero until a child becomes five. Therefore, in that...
Mr John Butcher: I think that I have given way enough, and I indicated to Mr. Speaker that I would not detain the House for more than 10 minutes. Therefore, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me I should like to continue. The right hon. Member for Leeds, East used highly emotive language, as many other opponents of the cuts have done. We have witnessed demonstrations and processions. A number of horrific...
Mr John Butcher: I complimented the Treasury team on reducing the number of teachers in a far less proportionate sense to the actual fall in the school rolls, so that the pupil-teacher ratio should improve.
Mr John Butcher: That is a misinterpretation of what happened in the years 1933–39. What happened was that the private sector spent its way out of recession. The key industry in reducing unemployment was the building industry, which took on a quarter of a million extra people for the private building programme. That is all that we are hoping will happen on this occasion, and I think that it will.
Mr John Butcher: I agree with my hon. Friend that the Minister is rightly concerned that we should not increase public expenditure or exacerbate the problem with increasing bureaucracy. I bear in mind an unhappy experience with the driving and vehicle licensing centre at Swansea. If we have two problems to cope with to get citizens band radio legalised, and if those two problems are licensing and consequently...
Mr John Butcher: I am concerned about the remarks made by the hon. Member for Keighley (Mr. Cryer) vis-a-vis uniforms crossing the Channel in each direction. If I interpreted his remarks correctly, he was implying that we should be self-sufficient in all products. This country has always had to export or die. In order to export, surely we must specialise. That is the basis of our international trade and of...
Mr John Butcher: I think that the opposite has been implied. I should like to come back to this point and tie it in with the need for greater efficiency in many of our industries, which protection does not help in many instances. I welcome the Minister's statement in the context of the interests of the Midlands, Coventry, the South-West in particular, and almost anywhere where engineering takes place in the...
Mr John Butcher: asked the Prime Minister if she will raise in the United Nations as a threat to world peace the involvement of Soviet civilian and military personnel in the internal affairs of Ethiopia and South Yemen.
Mr John Butcher: Does my right hon. Friend agree that this region and these countries are of crucial strategic importance? At present, 17,500 Cubans and 2,200 East German and Russian advisers pose a grave threat to Western interests in the area.