| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5.18 pm
Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson (New Forest): It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newport, East (Mr. Hughes). He and I have debated across the Floor of the House for the best part of 30 years, and--despite his youthful good looks--I still regard him as "old Labour". When I hear so much about "new Labour", I wonder what the Labour party's real views are. The hon. Gentleman's constituency contains one of the greatest steelworks in the country; he is also a long-term supporter of nationalisation. I wonder how he really feels now, with new Labour prepared to surrender all the policies on which it formed a Government when I first came here 31 years ago, and to do little more than try to copy the Tories in all that it does.
It was a first-class Gracious Speech. When I heard the leader of the Liberal Democrats listing all the Bills that he felt should have been included, I could only thank goodness that he is not the Prime Minister of this country. The problem with Parliament is that there has been far too much legislation, with the result that too much of it has been ill thought out and needs to be scrutinised a great deal more carefully. The mere passing of legislation cannot be a solution to our many problems.
The Gracious Speech does more than set out Bills for the next Session; it makes it clear that Britain's real priorities still remain the economy, Europe and education, a subject I want to talk about later. Those are the issues that really concern the ordinary people, not some mass of incomprehensible legislation.
It has been pointed out that this is the last full Session of this Parliament. For me, it is the last full Session of any Parliament because I shall be retiring at the next general election. When I hear the Opposition pleading for the occupation of the commanding heights of the economy and for a radical socialist programme, I feel that I am in strange territory debating the Gracious Speech with them tonight.
As is pointed out in the Gracious Speech, Britain's economy demands a great deal of our attention. It states:
Yesterday, we were informed of the creation of 3,000 real new jobs. It is far better for the people of that very lovely part of Scotland to have real jobs than to have phoney jobs fed to them by a Government, of whatever colour, in the belief that somehow throwing money at something nobody wants will make a success of it.
Another reason to be pleased with the economy is that the level of inward investment is growing all the time. Hardly a week passes without our hearing of companies from overseas investing in Britain. The reason why they invest here is simple--we have the sort of policies for the economy and for investment that attract them. We do not have the rules and regulations that would be part of the social chapter under a Labour Government. We do not try to cling to fixed exchange rates, in the way that is now ruining the French economy and causing strikes by French workers in almost every town in France, even as I speak. We have an economy free from regulation, which is attractive to overseas companies that want to invest. I am delighted that His Royal Highness Prince Charles is today in eastern Germany encouraging more investment to come to this country.
Britain's economic performance, our low inflation, our low unemployment compared with what it was--and I shall show in a moment how our policies are designed to improve employment--and the fact that we now have an economy recognised to be the one seriously growing economy in the European Union, are all factors of which we should be proud. I am delighted that in the Gracious Speech Her Majesty made it clear that the Government's policy is to continue to underpin those factors.
Of course, it is no good Britain, a small island in the North sea, thinking only of what happens here; we must see ourselves in a world context. We must be careful about our increased involvement in Europe. I have always regarded Europe as an opportunity to build a market for British goods--a real and genuine single market that would be of benefit to every citizen of Britain. Europe should not be some giant supranational grouping of nations where we would lose our sovereignty.
I still want to know what the Labour party's policy is on a single currency. The Leader of the Opposition was asked that question, but he skirted round it. I am convinced that, with the intergovernmental conference being held in Madrid in June next year, it is essential that
we stand our ground. Only yesterday we were told about
£2 billion of fraud and waste inside the Community. Earlier, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) referred to redundant offices in the centre of London, but it is the redundant offices in the centre of Brussels, with £15 million of furniture unaccounted for, with which we should be concerned.
Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley):
I do not disagree with the hon. Gentleman on that point, but did not the report show that more than 80 per cent. of the money not accounted for was spent by national Governments? Therefore, there is a responsibility on national Governments, not just on European institutions, to ensure that the money is properly spent.
Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson:
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am delighted that he made that point, because it is one that I intended to make. I listened with great interest to the speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham, in which he referred to reducing the Government's deficit. Rather than having more and more cuts in this country, we should look seriously at the contributions which, as the hon. Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes) rightly said, are made by national Governments to the European Union. Plenty of cutting and waste eradication could be done in Europe.
Mr. Foulkes:
I shall try again to explain my point to the hon. Gentleman, who obviously misunderstood me. I was referring not to contributions by national Governments to the European Union, but to money spent by national Governments on behalf of Europe-wide programmes. There have been many problems with lack of accountability in those spending programmes within countries, including Britain. For example, a great deal of money is unaccounted for in the common agricultural policy within Britain. The British Government need to get a grip on that.
Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson:
I well understand the hon. Gentleman's point and I, too, want those savings to be made. I have never understood why we make vast subsidy payments to the tobacco growers of Greece and Belgium while asking the taxpayers in Britain to finance no-smoking campaigns. A great deal of nonsense is attached to the way in which money is spent in Europe and I hope that stringent measures will be taken.
At the time of last year's Gracious Speech we heard, as we did yesterday, about fraud and waste and I entirely support what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said about fighting it. However, we must do so in a way that shows the people of Britain that we are not just fighting it, but winning the battle. The information that we were given yesterday was extremely disturbing.
When the intergovernmental conference takes place next June, it will be in all our interests to recognise that, while we want a strong trading community and want the single market to be a success, there is a great deal of natural Euro-scepticism among the electorate of Britain, and not without reason. When we go to the conference, we must ensure that we do as Lady Thatcher did, and make our voice crystal clear.
My last comment is about education. I was especially delighted to hear a reference to grant-maintained schools in the Gracious Speech. In my constituency we probably
have as many grant-maintained schools per acre of land as anywhere in Britain--probably more. Those schools are all working incredibly well and successfully, to the satisfaction of parents, teachers and administrators.
Indeed, the 100th grant-maintained school opened in New Milton, in my constituency, a year or so ago. The record of such schools' performance shows that they are doing a job superior to anything that was provided by the normal local education authority. So I find it incredible that the real resistance to grant-maintained status still comes from the county councils that are trying to protect their interests in connection with that responsibility. In my constituency, that comes from the Liberals who run Hampshire county council.
Only the other day, the headmaster of the grant-maintained school in New Milton that I mentioned had done some work to improve its performance and the availability of places there, only to have it condemned as naive by the representatives from county hall. I back that headmaster, Gordon Skirton, who has done a fantastic job and made his school one of the showplaces of that part of Hampshire.
I cannot understand why, when one of my hon. Friends asked the Leader of the Opposition about his policy on grant-maintained schools, he was so evasive. Here is something that works. If the Labour party is now taking leaves out of the Tory book and adopting things that work, surely here is one that the right hon. Gentleman could latch on to firmly. Indeed, he has done that for his own son, and I do not hold that fact against him. He has seen a success and has gone for it.
This may be the last full Session of this Parliament, but no one yet knows when the election will come. When it does, the people will have to make a judgment between a party with a proven track record and the Labour party, which is now trying to pretend that it is some new creature--new party, new Labour, new Britain.
Those of us who entered the House some years ago still see the same faces on the Opposition Benches. Admittedly, some of those people are very quiet, almost to the point where one feels that they have been silenced altogether. But those people are still here, and if the Labour party got into government, their voices would be heard again. New Labour, like all the other Labour party policies, would go into the dustbin.
The Gracious Speech is first class, and I thoroughly support it.
"My Government will continue with firm financial policies designed to support economic growth and rising employment . . .
The Government's policies are now bearing fruit in a remarkable manner. Only yesterday, we were told of the large investment at what was the old Ravenscraig plant in Scotland. I came to the House 31 years ago from the Iron and Steel Federation. I was well aware that even the Conservative Government under Harold Macmillan had found the management of a nationalised steel industry almost impossible. There was that moment, subsequently called the judgment of Solomon, when some money was allocated for the Steel Company of Wales and some for Ravenscraig. As we all know, sadly that money was not enough and subsequently the Ravenscraig plant had to be closed.
My Government will improve the performance of the economy, by encouraging enterprise and competitiveness and offering support for small businesses."
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |