1095
Oral Answers
14 MARCH 1991
Hong Kong made a donation of £15 million? Will he take this opportunity to express the appreciation of the Government and the House of that gesture?
The Prime Minister: I am certainly grateful for that contribution. I expressed my thanks to the Governor of Hong Kong and the Executive Council some weeks ago.
Q8. Mr. Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 14 March.
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Winnick: Which is likely to come first, a substantial fall in unemployment—the figures for which have risen yet again and which the policies pursued when the Prime Minister was Chancellor of the Exchequer helped to create -or the ending of the poll tax, which is justified at every opportunity?
The Prime Minister: As the hon. Gentleman knows, unemployment rose to 7 per cent. across the United Kingdom in the figures announced today. That is high. It is still well below the European average. It is well below France, at 9 per cent., Italy, at 9.9 per cent., Canada, at 9-3 per cent., Spain, at 15-8 per cent. and Ireland, at 14-8 per cent. If Government policies alone determine the level of unemployment, our record is infinitely better than that of any of those countries.
Q9. Mr. Speiler: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 14 March.
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Speller: Has the Prime Minister had any confirmation that poison gas has been used in Iraq in the past few days? What steps is he taking to see that the capacity for chemical and nuclear warfare is destroyed and that that destruction is permanent?
The Prime Minister: I have no evidence that poison gas has been used, but that is one matter which we shall wish to discuss with our allies in the weeks ahead.
Mr. Hardy: Would the Prime Minister care to compare his Government's treatment of the city of Westminster and of the metropolitan borough of Rotherham? Is he aware that Government support per head to Westminster will be
Oral Answers
1096
470-odd per cent, higher than that given to Rotherham? Is he aware that, if we had had the same treatment, far from charging a low poll tax, our local authority would be giving everyone at least £250 next year?
The Prime Minister: As the hon. Gentleman knows, the level of support is a good deal higher in inner London boroughs generally, although, as he will know, there is a sharp difference in the level of community charge even between adjacent London boroughs such as Lambeth and Wandsworth.
Rev. Ian Paisley: Has the Prime Minister been made aware of the statement by Jacques Delors in the European Parliament this week, that the Prime Minister had said that the United Kingdom had substantially changed its position on monetary union? Can he confirm whether this is so, or can he tell us what this change is?
The Prime Minister: I can confirm that that is not so. I also confirm that I had the opportunity of telling Mr. Delors that over dinner earlier this week.
Dr. Reid: Is the Prime Minister aware that, in about an hour and a half, the Select Committee on Trade and Industry will publish its report on British Steel's closure of the Ravenscraig hot strip mill and Clydesdale? Anyone who listened to the information given to that Committee cannot doubt that the report will be a damning indictment of British Steel's industrial relations policy. Does he recall telling me about three months ago, in a meeting that he was kind enough to have with me, that, should the worst come to Lanarkshire, he would not stand idly by? Since then, another 3,000 workers have been told that they will have to stand idly by, having been made redundant. Can he now tell the people of Lanarkshire what he intends to do, or does he find the same difficulty in making up his mind on that issue as he does on the poll tax?
The Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman knows precisely what we propose to do. If he racks his brains, he will recall that I told him when we met some time ago. I made it clear to him at our meeting that the Lanarkshire working group had been established now to identify what measures might be needed at some future stage if the mill were to close. That remains the case, as the hon. Gentleman has known for some time.
567 CO92/9 Job 2-10
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