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Mr. Brooke : Over almost 16 months I have obtained great value from the discussions that I have had with the Irish Government through the Anglo -Irish Agreement. [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker : Order. I again appeal to the House and reiterate that these are important questions and it is a rare opportunity to put questions to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Rev. Ian Paisley : Will the Secretary of State inform the House whether it is still the Government's policy of the Government to consider an alternative to and a replacement of the Anglo-Irish Agreement?
Mr. Brooke : I am delighted to confirm to the hon. Gentleman the words that I have used to reply to him on previous occasions when he quite rightly made sure that I repeated myself accurately each time.
Local Health Committees
13. Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy to maintain local health committees in the reorganisation of the national health service.
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Mr. Needham : It remains our policy to secure effective local advice.Rev. Martin Smyth : Will the Minister ensure that that effective local advice will be to retain the 16 local committees rather than reducing them to four area councils, bearing in mind that the Welsh Office gave that pattern to Wales?
Mr. Needham : I will, of course, pass on the hon. Gentleman's views to my noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State, Lord Skelmersdale. All I can say is that I think that four councils will do a much better job than the 16 district committees which were fragmented and powerless under the existing system.
Motorways
14. Mr. Stern : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many miles of motorway are to be built in the next 10 years in the Province.
Mr. Needham : Approximately 2 km.
Mr. Stern : I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the additional communications resulting from motorway construction are frequently an aid to keeping down terrorism? Will he look at his programme in that light?
Mr. Needham : We shall look at the programme in the light of what is the best road system for Northern Ireland. We have a good system, but it is getting fairly elderly and will need to be looked at again to see whether funds can be found to uprate it.
Mr. Beggs : Yet another of my constituents has died as a result of an accident on the Larne-Belfast road. Will the Minister assure me that he recognises the importance of Larne harbour to the Northern Ireland economy, to those passengers who use that port for access to the mainland, and will he ensure that the Larne-Belfast route-- [Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker : Order. This is very unseemly indeed.
Mr. Beggs : Can the Minister give us an assurance that the Larne- Belfast route will have the highest priority and motorway status? At the risk of getting a bullish answer, may I ask the Minister to tell us whether he has had any feelings of remorse for the remarks attributed to him regarding the Prime Minister, in view of her dignified resignation?
Mr. Needham : The hon. Gentleman is as aware of the importance of the Larne road as I am. If funds become available, we shall look at upgrading it. As to his second point, I am astonished that the hon. Gentleman should make use of a private call that was tapped by terrorists to make such a complaint.
Security
15. Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Republic of Ireland about the security situation ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Brooke : Matters relating to the security situation are regularly discussed within the forum of the Anglo-Irish intergovernmental conference. The last meeting of the conference took place on 25 October 1990.
Mr. Thurnham : Will my right hon. Friend bring the maximum pressure to bear on his counterparts in southern Ireland to ensure that the maximum possible efforts are made to control security in all parts of the United Kingdom?
Mr. Brooke : What my hon. Friend refers to is a standard part of our agenda whenever the conference meets. [Interruption.]
Dr. Kim Howells : Is the Secretary of State aware that in that brief intercepted phone call to his wife, the Under-Secretary of State was speaking on behalf of a large number of his colleagues--
Mr. Speaker : Order. That has nothing to do with the previous question.
Right to Silence
17. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the removal of the right to silence.
Mr. Cope : The right of silence has not been removed in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Bennett : I am sure that the Minister will agree that the use of the right to silence is not always an admission of guilt, as has been suggested. Is he aware that many of his hon. Friends did not want to declare how they voted during the week and that that was not necessarily an admission of guilt on their part? Will he ensure that the right to silence is not withdrawn in criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland?
Mr. Cope : All that we have done is to make sure that inferences can be drawn from silence in certain circumstances. That is as far as we have gone.
Security
18. Mr. Molyneaux : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the security situation.
Mr. Brooke : Since I answered a similar question on 19 July 1990, there have been 40 deaths arising from the security situation in Northern Ireland, 27 of which have occurred since 1 October 1990. The tragic events of recent weeks have provided further evidence of the threat which terrorists continue to pose in Northern Ireland, and of their inhuman cruelty. The overriding priority of the Government will, therefore, remain the defeat of terrorism, from whichever section of the community it comes, through the even-handed and energetic enforcement of the criminal law.
Mr. Molyneaux : Will the Secretary of State be good enough to accede to my request of some months ago that he should consider publishing, in a written report, the outcome of the Stevens inquiry, given the virtual collapse of the unfounded charges against members of the Ulster Defence Regiment?
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Mr. Brooke : I shall certainly look into the matter that the right hon. Gentleman has raised.Rev. William McCrea : Bearing in mind that my constituency is a constant hive of IRA terrorist activity, will the Secretary of State tell the House and my constituents when they, the constituents of mid-Ulster, will have their basic right--the right to live?
Mr. Brooke : The hon. Gentleman expresses a point of view which will evoke the widest possible echo in the Province and throughout the United Kingdom. I pledge to him the support of the security forces in the suppression of terrorism.
Labour Statistics
19. Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the present level of unemployment in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Needham : At 11 October 1990, there were 94,758 unemployed claimants in the Province. Figures show that the underlying downward trend is continuing and seasonally adjusted unemployment is now at its lowest level for over eight years.
Mr. Ross : Anyone who studies a table of travel-to-work areas in the United Kingdom will find that nine of the top 11 in terms of unemployment are to be found in Northern Ireland. What failure of Government policy has brought about that state of affairs after so many years of direct rule and how long does the Minister expect that it will be before the level of unemployment in Northern Ireland reduces to the United Kingdom average?
Mr. Needham : The hon. Gentleman knows that the level of unemployment in Northern Ireland last month continued to decline although it is rising in the rest of the United Kingdom. The economy of Northern Ireland is expanding at a time when the economy is not doing as well elsewhere in the United Kingdom. We should welcome the fact that it is expanding in Northern Ireland and realise that it is terrorism which does so much damage to our chances of further economic success.
PRIME MINISTER
South Belfast
Q1. Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Prime Minister when she will next visit Belfast, South.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher) : I had a very successful visit to Northern Ireland on 16 November, but I have no plans to visit the hon. Gentleman's constituency in the immediate future.
Rev. Martin Smyth : You will understand, Mr. Speaker, that Ulster Unionist Members will have empathy with the Prime Minister because we know what betrayal means. May I assure the Prime Minister that if she visits south Belfast she will discover among the majority of my constituents sympathy for her views on Europe? Having suffered from centralised bureaucracy, we do not wish to have Brussels bureaucracy.
The Prime Minister : I hope to visit the Province many times in the future, perhaps in a slightly different capacity,
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and I may then come to visit the hon. Gentleman's constituency. I believe that our policy on Europe appeals to most people in this country and I believe that it is right.Engagements
Q2. Mr. Marlow : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 22 November.
The Prime Minister : This morning I chaired a meeting of the Cabinet. At 12.45 pm I had an audience of Her Majesty the Queen. Later this afternoon I shall lead for the Government against the motion tabled in the name of the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Marlow : Does my right hon. Friend accept that those of us on the Government side of the House who share her objectives, whatever our roles may have been in recent weeks, believe that this is a time of sadness and happiness? It is a time of sadness for my right hon. Friend, bearing in mind the great well of affection for her that exists throughout the House, and a time of happiness in celebration of what has been, is and will remain the greatest peacetime political reign of this century. This will be a day of dedication to sustain and build on the achievements of the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The Prime Minister : I thank my hon. Friend. The same person, in a slightly different capacity, will be available to serve Britain in whatsoever way it happens.
Mr. Kinnock : May I pay tribute to the Prime Minister, and to the decision that she made this morning? By that, she showed that she amounts to more than those who have turned on her in recent days. The right hon. Lady, I know, considers the principle of choice extremely important, and rightly so. Does she agree that the people of Britain should now be given the power of choice in a general election?
The Prime Minister : I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his earlier comments. The reply to his later question is no--no more than we had a general election when Mr. Wilson was replaced by Mr. Callaghan.
Mr. Churchill : Is my right hon. Friend aware that she deserves the gratitude of the entire nation for her role in bringing to an end the Soviet part in the arms race, and burying once and for all the cold war between the super-powers? It is in that capacity that she will be remembered as the greatest peacetime Prime Minister this country has ever had.
The Prime Minister : I am grateful to my hon. Friend both for his staunchness in defence and for his remarks. It was a great privilege to attend the CSCE conference in Paris and to sign some of the disarmament agreements. The new CSCE really ushers in a new order in Europe--and, I hope, a very successful, peaceful one.
Mr. Ashdown : May I say to the Prime Minister that many of us recognise that she had to make a very tough decision this morning? We believe that she made the right decision and made it with great dignity. May I also say to her that, however wide our political divisions--and they are, of course, very wide--no one can doubt the special style that she brought to the Dispatch Box or the courage, conviction and determination that she brought to her premiership?
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May I perhaps ask the Prime Minister to use this opportunity to offer the House any advice that she may have for a successor?The Prime Minister : Apart from the last bit, I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kindness. May I remind the House that I expect to be here on Tuesday afternoon, and possibly even on Thursday afternoon, so I hope that the House will be as kind then as it is today.
Agriculture Reform
Q3. Mr. Teddy Taylor (Southend, East) : To ask the Prime Minister if she will raise at the next meeting of the European Council the implications of the agricultural reform plans agreed by the Agriculture Council on 6 November.
The Prime Minister : I raised this matter at the last European Council meeting. The Government have played a central role in supporting the European Commission's proposals and enabling the Community to table its offer at the talks in Geneva.
Mr. Taylor : Will the Prime Minister confirm that jobs and prosperity in Britain and throughout Europe may be seriously affected by an international trade war unless the EEC produces a meaningful reform of the absurd and costly common agricultural policy? Will she remind the bright chaps now standing for election that the average cost per household of the CAP is now £5.20 per week more than the total net cost per household of the poll tax?
Finally, will the Prime Minister accept the good wishes and gratitude of all Conservatives in Southend, East for the fantastic job that she has done for common sense, freedom and democracy?
The Prime Minister : I very much agree with my hon. Friend. Jobs and prosperity depend on obtaining freer trade and we played a prominent part in that recently at the last meeting of the European Council and in the tabling of proposals to GATT.
I will, of course, respond to my hon. Friend's invitation to remind my colleagues who are standing for election, but let me say this to him : I shall remind them whether they are standing for election or not.
Dr. Godman : With regard to the decisions made at that meeting, does the Prime Minister agree that it is essential for our hill farmers to be given the protection that they so manifestly deserve? In the light of assurances that she has given me in the past, does she also agree that those decisions contain an awful, serious warning for our fishermen vis-a- vis the changes that the Spanish and others wish to inflict on the common fisheries policy? If she will not be here to defend our fishermen, will she urge her successor also to be worthy of our defence?
The Prime Minister : I think that, for once, I can agree with the hon. Gentleman. Our hill farmers are vital to the health and the whole structure of those areas. We have tried to increase the grants available to them because we have recognised their importance not only to farming but to the rural areas.
The fisheries question has always been one of the most difficult in the Community. So far, we have had a pretty good deal for our fishermen and we shall continue to work
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for that. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the vital question of fishing boats is pending and many people will be happier when that has been resolved, preferably to our advantage.Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman : Will my right hon. Friend accept from me the love and affection of millions of people in my part of the world who over the years have looked to her with the greatest admiration and delight?
The Prime Minister : I am especially grateful to receive that message from my hon. Friend. We were at college together, and I think that we have been together ever since.
Engagements
Q4. Mr. Janner : To ask the Prime Minister is she will list her official engagements for Thursday 22 November.
The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Janner : May I be permitted to thank the Prime Minister for the many personal kindnesses that, over many years, she has shown to Back Benchers on both sides of the House? At the same time, however, I must say that my constituents are deeply concerned that she has left the place in such a shambles. Is she aware that they are desperately worried about the poll tax, the deepening recession, the health service, the education system, and the whole shambles--
Mr. Speaker : Order. Question please.
Mr. Janner : Will the Prime Minister say who she thinks should share the blame for what is, after all, a Conservative mess?
The Prime Minister : The hon. and learned Gentleman was always a good advocate and he can speak to any brief, but I do not believe that he believes a word of that.
Sir John Stokes : Does my right hon. Friend agree that the age of chivalry has gone and been succeeded by economists and calculators? Does not she look back with pride and satisfaction on all those years when she was leader of this country and a world statesman?
The Prime Minister : The age of chivalry will not have gone while my hon. Friend is a Member of this House. I certainly look back with some pride and some satisfaction on our achievements for our country over the past eleven and a half years.
Q5. Mr. Maginnis : To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday, 22 November.
The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Maginnis : May I convey to the Prime Minister the gratitude of my constituents for her visit last Friday to Enniskillen and their admiration for her courage as she visited the frontier post at Derryadd, where sadly two of our soldiers were killed a short time ago? Is she convinced of the need to maintain such permanent patrol bases for the welfare of the community and also of the foolishness that it would be if they were removed and, therefore, more territory surrendered to the terrorists?
The Prime Minister : I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. Those vehicle crossing checkpoints are obviously important to the confidence of those who live in
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the area. That checkpoint is an example of the dangers faced by the Army personnel who man them. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we are taking every possible precaution to learn lessons from that attack. As I went around the border areas, once again I could only be very impressed by the courage and bravery both of our soldiers and of our policemen who work in such areas.Mr. Aitken : Has my right hon. Friend considered that the voice of a great former Prime Minister could be extremely influential on great issues of state such as our future role in Europe? [Interruption.]
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Mr. Aitken : My question was directed to a great former Prime Minister.
Will my right hon. Friend assure her many friends in the House and the country that she will continue to champion the causes for which she has fought so valiantly, and will she continue to raise her voice in favour of a referendum on some of the great constitutional issues that may confront us?
The Prime Minister : What my hon. Friend says had in fact secretly occurred to me--that one's voice might be listened to after. I believe that we now have a policy for the future of Europe behind which we can all unite and I believe that many people in other countries in Europe believe in a Europe of nation states and in co-operation between those nation states.
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