3
401
Oral Answers
North-west Kent
18 MARCH 1993
Q2. Mr. Dunn: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to visit north-west Kent.
The Prime Minister: I am making plans for a series of visits and hope to include Kent among them.
Mr. Dunn: Is the Prime Minister aware that the people of north-west Kent have always been strong supporters of home ownership and, as such, welcome the changes in stamp duty which will encourage the housing market? They also welcome the new, exciting, radical right-to-buy campaign announced today.
The Prime Minister: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I think he will find that that welcome will extend across not just north-west Kent but the whole country. In a recent survey, 89 per cent. of people under 30 said that they wished to own their own homes. We shall again give more of them the opportunity to do so. Raising the stamp duty threshold will halve the number of houses on which stamp duty has to be paid. That, with low interest rates and the lowest mortgage rates for nearly 30 years, will dramatically increase the possibility for millions to become home
owners.
Engagements
Q3. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 18 March.
The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Prentice: Does the Prime Minister of manufactur- ing recall that this time last week he did not know the names of the two major competitors of Rolls-Royce and that his ignorance shocked my constituents? Will he join me in condemning the 24 per cent. and 35 per cent. pay increases for the chief executive and chairman of Rolls-Royce at a time when the company is sacking 5,000 skilled workers, including 170 in my constituency?
The Prime Minister: I have spoken before of my admiration for Pratt and Witney and General Electric. As for the wage increases to which the hon. Gentleman referred, if he were here more often he would know how often I have set out my views on that subject.
Q4. Mr. Sykes: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 18 March.
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Sykes: I know that, unlike the Jeremiahs in the Labour party, the Prime Minister will welcome the news on the unemployment figures that has been announced today. Will he also welcome the freezing of the uniform business rate that was announced on Tuesday, which will further help job prospects?
The Prime Minister: I am certainly happy to do that. The Budget was a Budget for business, as my right hon. Friend the Chancellor said. The freeze on business rates will help about 800,000 businesses. Nor was that the Budget's only boost for business. The chorus of welcome for the Budget from business speaks for itself.
212 0044/8 Job 2-8
1.5. Relsw. Pont
Oral Answers
بریم
402
Mr. Ashdown: How does the Prime Minister justify to the nation a Budget which, over the next three years, will require the poorest tenth of people to pay proportionately twice what the richest tenth will have to pay to bail the country out of his Government's financial failure?
The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman has clearly failed to notice the substantial increase in the proportion of the burden that we are asking people on higher incomes to bear. He has neglected that. I hope that he will join his hon. Friend sitting beside him who earlier this week said:
"I am in favour of taxes on things that pollute."
Q5. Mr. Ancram: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 18 March.
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Ancram: Is my right hon. Friend aware that many Conservative Members take grave exception to the heavy-handed behaviour of Chinese Government towards the Governor of the Hong Kong? Will he take up with the Chinese Government their threat to set up an alternative government for Hong Kong, and will he remind them that the whole international community expects agreements to be honoured?
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend is entirely right. The British Government stand four square behind the Governor and Government of Hong Kong. The Governor has acted sensitively, resolutely and correctly, and we shall continue to make that clear to the Chinese Government. In doing so, we shall underline three points: the Governor has acted entirely within the terms of the documents that we have agreed with China and we expect the Chinese Government to do likewise; the Governor's proposals for greater democracy are widely supported in Hong Kong, in the United Kingdom and in the international community, and I believe that they have wide support across this House; we and the Governor have gone the extra mile in our efforts to consult China. We remain ready for talks without pre-conditions, but no one should doubt that the Governor has our total support.
Q6. Mr. Turner: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 18 March.
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Turner: Does the Prime Minister accept that Budget day will be remembered for many years as Black Tuesday? It was the day of taxes on heating, taxes on beer, taxes on petrol and taxes on cars. Will the Prime Minister tell the House and the Country how many more taxes we shall have to endure before, mercifully, we get to the next general election?
The Prime Minister: It will certainly be a tax on Labour's ability to win that election when it comes, for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has put in place the right structure to make sure that we get back the growth, the jobs and the prosperity that we seek. If the hon. Gentleman had been a little more gracious he might, unlike anyone else on the Opposition side, have welcomed not only the drop in unemployment but also the new £100 million manufacturing centre for car components at Wednesbury near Wolverhampton.