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The Prime Minister : We have raised the question of human rights in Turkey with Ministers who have come here. They have replied that they are doing everything possible to restore full human rights in Turkey and that the cases which are frequently raised date back some considerable time.

Q8. Mr. Batiste : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 March.

The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Batiste : Will my right hon. Friend confirm that where a monopoly does not reflect the realities of the market place it is not only the consumer but the supplier who suffers, because sooner or later the market place will reassert itself and if the supplier has not adjusted his services to meet that it will be unable to adapt? In those


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circumstances, will she give an assurance to those in the legal profession who seek its urgent reform that she is fully behind them?

The Prime Minister : Most people, I think, who have studied the Green Papers of my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor about the reform of the legal profession are behind the overwhelming majority of his reforms. There are still some dissentient voices, particularly in the legal profession, but I think that, broadly speaking, what he proposes is right. We shall consider what is said in the debate very carefully and I hope that we shall be in a position to bring forward legislation.

Mr. Alton : Notwithstanding the resilience and sense of optimism which the Prime Minister will have found during her visit to the Albert dock in Liverpool and the housing co-operatives that she visited last Friday, does she agree that in an area in which 98,000 people are out of work, and some 18,000 have been out of work for the last five years, there is no point in just blaming the victims and that the Merseyside economy cannot stand to lose another 1,000 jobs? Will she personally do what she can to try to save those jobs?

The Prime Minister : I was questioned about that particular loss of jobs, and I indicated that it was because the company could not achieve competitiveness, could not get rid of some restrictive practices, and could not increase productivity in that particular factory. So it chose to invest in a factory where it could do so. The company is still investing, but not at that factory. I was questioned about that matter at a spot where it is proposed to create another 5, 000 jobs, arising from some of the reconstruction that is being undertaken at the docks as an extension of the work of the urban development corporation. It seems to me that there are fresh opportunities there. The hon. Gentleman will know that the company is delaying the close-down, to enable its workers to obtain other jobs and other training before closure occurs.-- [Interruption.] The company must be competitive, and if the hon. Gentleman does not understand that, he is against the consumer and against every single worker.

Q9. Mr. Knowles : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagement for Tuesday 14 March.

The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Speaker : I do not think that the hon. Gentleman is present.

Q10. Mr. Jack : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 14 March.

The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Jack : Recently, my right hon. Friend sponsored an excellent conference in London, on the preservation of the ozone layer. Will she consider sponsoring a similar event to help ensure the preservation of the world's rain forests?


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The Prime Minister : That aspect was, of course, mentioned at the conference on the preservation of the ozone layer. If my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) consults my hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas development, he will learn that a considerable number of our grants and aid are already given with the preservation of the rain forests in mind, because that is very important to the preservation of the ozone layer as a whole.


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