House of Commons Hansard Debates for 31 Oct 1991

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bottom of the table for wages. The real cause of our problems is that as a nation we are no longer making things. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson), once told us that a pound earned in the service sector was as good as a pound earned in manufacturing. Yet the strength of the two major industrial powers, Germany and Japan, has been built on the success of their manufacturing industry.

By contrast, in Britain 342,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing since August 1991. Unless action is now taken to rebuild British manufacturing, we are doomed to a further bout of inflation and a third recession. The loss of manufacturing capacity in the early 1980s played a major part in the overheating of the economy at the end of the decade.

The motor industry provides one example. It is a vital sector of the economy, yet according to a recent publication by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders the Government's fiscal policy is putting the whole future of the industry at risk. The vehicle market has suffered its worst decline for a decade. Car sales for the first eight months of this year were down by 22 per cent. The recession was aggravated by the Chancellor's punitive Budget. The 10 per cent. special car tax and the recent increase in VAT combined to add more than 27 per cent. to the price of a new car.

We in Wales have a vital stake in the motor industry. Our steel industry is closely linked to it and we have major component manufacturers--Ford Engines at Bridgend, Lucas Girling at Cwmbran and the new Bosch alternator plant in the vale of Glamorgan.

In his recent book, the former Secretary of State for Wales, the right hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Walker), pointed out that had it not been for the intervention of the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher), we should have had the Toyota motor assembly plant in Newport. Instead, it was diverted to Derby, where there are more Tory marginal seats. How cynical can one get? I am sorry that the right hon. Member for Worcester did not mention the former Prime Minister's intervention this afternoon. The people of Wales are not likely to forget it and all Tory candidates in Wales should be reminded of it during the forthcoming general election.

The present Prime Minister held important offices in the Thatcher Administration and many punitive measures can be directly attributed to him, especially in his capacity as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The freezing of child benefit for four years and the abolition of benefit for 16 and 17-year-olds are but two examples. I have already referred to the punitive interest rates for which he was responsible which did so much damage to the British economy. The Thatcher years were a disaster for Britain. We are back where we started and people have paid with their homes, their jobs and their businesses. Now it is the principal task of the chairman of the Conservative party to try to pretend that those things never happened. He has a difficult task. The Prime Minister claims to be a modest man. After 12 years of Conservative Government, all that I can say is that he has a lot to be modest about.

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6.45 pm

Mr. David Martin (Portsmouth, South) : The first day of a new Session of Parliament is always interesting and has a particular flavour, even though the old Session had been consigned to its vault only a few days earlier. It is almost a feeling of renewal as we confront a new Queen's Speech. Generally, people start off being nicer to each other--that applies not only to Members on the other side of the House but to Members on this side. That is a very pleasant experience for us. The lion sits down with the lamb. It is glad confident morning again. Then we get to the afternoon, the speeches begin and the old ways quickly come back.

With reference to the economy, it has been a painful business pulling ourselves out of the difficulties into which we ran--or rather, walked--in 1987-88. Since then, two factors have been strongly in our favour. The first is the Government's firm resolution against inflation. That has meant increased unemployment--unfortunately, that is the cost of inflation and of any effective method of eradicating inflation. We all know from our constituency experience how distressing it is for people directly affected and for those who fear that they might be affected.

In Portsmouth now, as in the early 1980s, unemployment has been, and still is, rising. Fortunately, the Government have produced policies to improve the employability of individuals through training, retraining and the more efficient operation of jobcentres, job clubs and executive job clubs. All that is important, and it is being carried out efficiently in Portsmouth.

The Government know, as do the recent converts among Opposition Members to much Government thinking, that in the end it is the strength of the private sector that counts. Businesses, large and small, expanding and employing people, will create the jobs to put the unemployed back to work. That was the experience in the mid-1980s and it will be so again in the 1990s, provided that we can keep Conservative Governments, with their ideas for improving the public sector. The necessary conditions are lower public spending in relation to gross domestic product, as envisaged in the Gracious Speech, low taxation and lack of bureaucratic interference. The jobs will surely follow if we pursue those policies.

The second factor favouring swifter progress out of the recession has been the negligible number of strikes and the small amount of other industrial inaction. Strikes and so-called industrial action--in fact, it was inaction --dogged the Governments of the 1970s and slowed the recovery of the 1980s until a new culture, based on sensible new laws, took a proper hold.

It is an immense advance to be able to pull an economy from recession into growth without all the hassle of incomes policies, pay pauses, pay freezes and all the other paraphernalia which now--thank goodness--seem like ancient history. It is important that people should bear that strongly in mind, especially those who will vote for the first time in the general election. Such people do not remember--indeed, they never knew--what it was like to wonder almost daily, especially in winter, whether the ordinary citizen would be held to ransom in one aspect of life or another.

Would the lights turn on? Would the heating be gone? Would the trains or the buses be running? Would the post arrive? Would petrol be available without having to queue

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and wish that one had been kinder to the local petrol station manager over the years, so that he would give one a gallon or two although well back in the queue?

All those fears and insecurities have virtually gone. However, I still recall them, because even now I still use candles from the boxes I had stored during those difficult years. That dates me almost as much as remembering when Paul Anka was top of the hit parade with "Diana", or Brigitte Bardot first leapt into the air advertising Air France.

We all have memories of those far-off days of union warfare against the public. I remember with nostalgia the encouragement to share a bath, if not a bed. That was a moment in history when patriotism and passion could be unequivocally combined. It was not only Queen Victoria who was encouraged to "do it for England".

The Labour leader is anxious to jettison any inconvenient ballast in the face of storm clouds--the storm clouds of a general election. However, under a Labour Government there is no doubt that militant unionism would be back. I do not pretend for one moment that the majority of the Labour party wants such a result. It would not happen on day one of a new Labour Government, but, after those first days of sweetness and light and brotherly love, the laws of the past 10 years against union militancy--laws that have been painfully and courageously erected--would be dismantled. Worse still, those laws would not be enforced.

Under such a Labour Government, we would have a repeat of the images that appeared on the television screens in the late 1970s, which I remember well. Then, apparently, impotent Labour Ministers would virtually throw up their hands while asking what they could do in the face of the grave difficulties that the public were experiencing. We do not need any reminding that those experiences led to the election of a Conservative Government in 1979, who have remained in power ever since.

When the election comes, the electorate will seek a pledge from the Labour party--it will face a serious challenge. Many people will want to know how a Labour Government would deal with the pay-off to the unions, because the unions would claim that they had helped the Labour party considerably to get back into government. The answer to that question will influence much of the voting at the general election.

The citizens charter is a good example of the way in which times have changed--it is a monument to the new climate of the 1990s. The transformed state of industrial relations and the major reforms undertaken to our public utilities and services form the essential background to the charter. The proposals in that charter would have been met with a horse laugh and sheer incredulity in the 1960s and 1970s. No one would have believed that one could produce such improvements, given the size of the then unions and the massive public sector.

Over many years, the Government have returned much of the public sector to the private sector--where it should have been in the first place. I expect that those changes will remain even though the Labour party has promised that some services will be renationalised. However, the cost of returning such services to the public sector would be so great that I do not believe that a Labour Government

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would choose that action should they ever have the chance. Any such attempts would be totally impracticable and Labour Back Benchers would soon discover that their Chancellor would say "No, no, no" to any such fanciful schemes.

People no longer believe that the citizens charter is impractical, and it does not cause a hollow laugh. Instead, people ask whether it goes far enough. I hope that it will go further when experience shows what success can be achieved by concentrating seriously on improving public services. We must, as far as possible, achieve the same standard of service in the public sector as we expect when we walk into a shop operated in the private sector. That shopkeeper is interested in our business, because it is his livelihood and he must make a profit to keep it. We must transfer that discipline to the public sector.

Of course, many people employed in the public sector work as hard as they can and have all the right attitudes. We must make that practice the norm, just as it is in the best businesses in the private sector.

The Government face the challenge to introduce a system of local government taxation that proves fair and acceptable. In common with the community charge, the crucial test of the council tax will be the amount that people are expected to pay. That should be the bottom line of any reform. The words of Macaulay always hang over Ministers when they attempt to introduce a new tax--they were there when the Government attempted to reform local government tax through the community charge. He said :

"Unjust and absurd taxation to which people are accustomed is often borne far more willingly than the most reasonable impost which is new."

I remember that that tendency dogged any new tax that was proposed by previous Labour Governments. I remember SET--selective employment tax-- which came and went rather quickly. I also thought of those words many times during the community charge saga.

We must get the amount right, and it must be calculated on as fair a basis as possible. No one likes paying taxes, whether they are local or central. However, the amounts must be right and people must be made aware that their contribution is made in accordance with their ability to pay. The system must be perceived to be fair : then support for it will follow.

The Opposition claim that the council tax is a new rating system, but that is a hollow claim. It is difficult to identify the type of property tax that would be introduced by the Labour party. I should be interested to learn how the Labour party distinguishes what it proposes from what the Government are proposing. I wish good luck to those hon. Friends responsible for the legislation.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Robert Key) : Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that there is another partner in the enterprise--those who spend all the money raised by local authorities as well as the enormous grants by which taxpayers subsidise them? It is important that local authorities recognise that they have a responsibility for the new tax. It is their responsibility to maintain spending at a reasonable level, and it should not grow anything like as fast and by as much as it has in the past few years.

Mr. Martin : That is at the root of what happened during the first year of the community charge. Local councils pushed up their expenditure to such an extent that

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the gap that had to be met by the community charge was greater than that that had to be met by the rates. If that matter had been addressed with greater effect, the problems with the amounts charged would not have arisen.

Under the new system, there must be an obligation on local councils to ensure that their expenditure is kept within reasonable limits and takes account not only of the local taxpayer but of the national taxpayer who has to meet so much of the local bill.

I also welcome the commitment to establish a review of local government structure in England. Every time we have such a review, it is claimed that the result will lead to cheaper and better local government, which is closer to the people. However, we often find that it is difficult to put such reforms into effect. In 1974, the reforms that were introduced met with disapproval from many people from the start. I accept that any change meets with some disapproval, but the changes made in that era are still met with widespread disapproval.

I am pleased that those changes are now to be reconsidered, and I hope that that will lead to Portsmouth's independence from Hampshire county council. That would be the best result for Portsmouth, in common with other major cities. Those cities should return to their former county borough status so that they are perceived to be closer to their local people and are able to make the decisions that relate to them. I have absolutely no doubt that the people of Portsmouth will make their views well known to Ministers during the review. I want to make it absolutely clear that this is where Portsmouth stands on the matter.

The Queen's Speech also refers to the regeneration of our cities, a crucial aspect of which is the continuing concentration on improved housing in Portsmouth and other great cities. I agree with the hon. Member for Preston (Mrs. Wise) about the importance of this subject, but I do not agree with her solutions. On several occasions during my four and a half years here I have discussed this matter. It is not the shortage of homes in which people can live satisfactorily that is at the root of the problem. We have more than enough homes in the public and private sectors : the problem is the mismatch between the number of places in which people can decently live and their availability to those who need them.

We do not have this trouble with the supply and demand of food and clothing --the other two basics--but we do have it with shelter. The crucial difference in the case of shelter has been the virtual eradication of private rented accommodation. If, since 1945, there had been Clothing Acts to discourage or suppress Marks and Spencer, C and A and so on, to tell them what prices to charge and which customers to keep ; if there had been Food Acts to shackle and control the operations of Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda and the rest, the hon. Member for Preston would have bitterly complained that the Government were not doing enough about queues for council food or council clothing. Of course councils would not be able to cope in such circumstances ; nor should they be expected to cope with the demand for shelter.

Bed-and-breakfast accommodation is not the solution for families ; it is short-term emergency accommodation only. In the 1990s it must be discontinued.

Thus far, everyone agrees, but at this point agreement between the two sides of the House breaks down. Never in my lifetime have Governments or councils coped

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satisfactorily with the queues for council housing--not even when tower blocks and flat-roofed maisonettes replaced prefabs. Many people were reluctant to leave their prefabs ; much of what replaced them was built in the same sort of jerry way. In the 1960s and 1970s, the accent was on numbers. Flimsy construction did not matter : nor did the destruction of communities. People had to be given state-of-the-art homes--that was the solution to everything. Unfortunately, this was not the solution. Such accommodation now requires a great deal of expenditure on rebuilding, refurbishment and even demolition. Tower blocks were a well intended attempt to sort out the queues for housing, but they failed in that attempt. I remind the House that the programme "Cathy Come Home" was made a generation ago, not when my right hon. Friend the Member for Finchley was Prime Minister. Years of Labour government followed it. It is difficult to take advice on housing from the Opposition, given their record while in government.

We cannot sort out the problem merely by injecting more and more local and taxpayers' money. The Government have rightly begun to expect councils to adopt an enabling role in the provision of social housing. We may not be able to do anything more about the Rent Acts yet, but we tried in the most recent housing legislation to free lettings under those Acts. That will have an effect, as will some other initiatives that I intend to mention.

The enabling role of local authorities is crucial. It puts aside the idea that councils alone must provide housing. Instead, they must work with whatever means are to hand--housing associations or the private rented sector. Councils should be able to winkle out housing for people who need it. If homes are under-used or empty, they should make it possible to occupy them. If this attitude is adopted--it already is by forward-looking councils--we shall get to the bottom of the problem.

I welcome three initiatives, the first of which is the pilot schemes encouraging private owners to let homes through housing associations as managing agents. That is a good start ; if we cannot repeal the Rent Acts so as to free housing, like food and clothing, we can at least use housing associations as managing agents to give people the confidence that they can let their houses for a guaranteed period and for a reasonable rate of return, knowing that they will be able to get back their homes at the end of a fixed term. I hope that the scheme will be successful, and will spread throughout the country as soon as possible. I read the other day that the first tenant to take up accommodation under such a scheme is pleased with it. The second initiative offers encouragement to let empty flats over shops. Twenty-five million pounds has been made available, and local authorities can bid for it to develop schemes to this end. Housing associations would run the scheme. In Portsmouth, there are many empty properties, over shops and in private housing--indeed, most housing there is private. Many people would use some of their accommodation for letting if only they were constructively allowed to do so. This is a good scheme.

The housing investment programme is to be distributed on the criteria of how efficiently councils have managed their housing stock and of how well they have executed their enabling powers. That is a great improvement. It is important to know how well councils have carried out their responsibilities under the legislation.

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The housing problem desperately needs maximum co-operation from all the political parties. It is no good re-fighting the old battles--as the hon. Member for Preston did--over the sale of council houses. In any case, I understand that that is now Labour party policy. The sale of council flats should also be more encouraged. Official Labour party policy will soon catch up with what we Conservatives do, which is why I strongly urge the Government to take their courage in both hands to mobilise the private sector in an effort to provide more rented housing.

There is much to be done in the 1990s, and I have no doubt that the Prime Minister is the man to lead the Government during that time. Much of the world is already moving in the direction marked out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Finchley ; our example has been adopted by many formerly left-wing countries. Even Opposition Front-Bench spokesmen have concluded as much.

We are flattered by the Opposition's adoption of so many of our policies, but when it comes to the election, people will be able to distinguish the real thing from the imitation which has been concocted from an abandonment of principles in an attempt to fool enough people for one election. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is welcome to go the whole five years if he wants to, and I have no doubt that, when he presses the button, the Government will be re-elected for another term.

7.9 pm

Mr. Seamus Mallon (Newry and Armagh) : I listened with great interest to the speeches of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Naturally enough, I listened specifically for references to one of the greatest problems that has been affecting this Parliament for a considerable time. I heard no reference to it. Perhaps it was the din or the fact that people are becoming excited as we approach not only the beginning of a new Parliament but the end of a new Parliament. I still hope that, at some time during the debate on the Queen's Speech, I will hear a reference to an issue that has resulted in more than 3,500 dead people and the expenditure of £2 billion a year, caused enormous suffering and disruption, blighted the legal system of this country, and brought the Government before the bar of the European Court on numerous occasions and caused them to derogate from it. I could go on ad infinitum.

On that basis, one might hope that there would have been a little reference to that problem in those major speeches. Perhaps the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in their wisdom decided that certain issues transcend the party haggling that goes on across this Floor and that some issues are too serious to be dealt with in a contribution to the debate on the Queen's Speech. If so, I do them a substantial injustice. If not, I hope that my scepticism does not turn into cynicism too soon.

The hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Martin), who spoke so well, referred to the beginning of a new Parliament. It is a new Session of Parliament but I prefer to see it as the beginning of the end of this Parliament. In many ways it is the end of an era of what is and will be known as Thatcherism. I shall not comment on that. It could well be the end of a period when one-party

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government was the norm. It may be the beginning of the end of that too. It is certainly the end of an era when everything in political terms looked cast in concrete and permanency. However, when we consider what is happening throughout the world, we see that that is not the case. Echoes are reaching us from Madrid, and the whole world hopes that that ancient problem will be tackled and solved. We have seen what has happened in Germany and Russia and the advances that have taken place in South Africa. We have even seen changes in Vietnam's approach. Yet, in the words of Winston Churchill : "The dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone still are haggling about their ancient quarrel".

We can smile when we consider the matter in those terms. The only question that I wish to pose tonight is whether the political parties involved--that means all of us, including the Government, the Opposition, my party, the Unionist parties, the Liberal and Social Democrats, the Scottish Nationalists, Plaid Cymru and everyone who enters the Chamber, as well as the parties that sit in Dublin--have the will to create a political solution to a fundamental political problem. That is the essence of the Northern Irish problem as it affects us as legislators. It is not good enough for Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition to ignore a fundamental issue that has faced us for 21 years. We must realise that that is the key question. If politics and the political process mean anything to us, it is the solving of political problems. If we do not do that, we are not facing up to our responsibilities, we are not in a position to pontificate to anyone else, and we are shirking what we have been elected to do. We are shirking our roles of government if we are in Government, opposition if we are in Opposition and spokesmen if we are in minority parties.

Are the Government or the Opposition content to let that problem simmer away on the back burner? Is Parliament content to allow the problem to seep over unresolved into a new century, or will the last anachronism of Europe finally be solved in a positive, creative way by those of us responsible for solving it? That is our challenge.

Mr. Frank Cook : I count the hon. Gentleman as a friend. He knows of my attempts to try to understand the so-called "Irish issue". Is my hon. Friend--if I may use that term--sure that a solution put forward in this House would be accepted in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic?

Mr. Mallon : I thank the hon. Member for that legitimate and serious question. This House has a role to play because Northern Ireland exists under the Government. The House, individual hon. Members and political parties have a role to play, as have the political parties in the Republic of Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Ireland, who have a central role. However, our role is more central, even on the most banal basis--the £2 billion of the Government's money that goes into that bottomless abyss year after year. Soldiers from this country stand at look- out posts and are shot. For what? People from this country are suffering the embarrassment of it all and that is why the primary responsibility lies here and should never be shirked.

Mr. Ivor Stanbrook (Orpington) : Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there should be a Select Committee of this House devoted to the affairs of Northern Ireland?

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Mr. Mallon : If the hon. Gentleman asks me whether I agree that the Irish issue should be pushed upstairs and taken off the Floor of the House, I certainly do not. The matter must be resolved on the Floor of the House and within this forum. I see why many hon. Members on both sides of the House would want it to be pushed upstairs out of sight and out of mind. That would be a substantial problem for everyone concerned with the north of Ireland. If the hon. Gentleman says that there is a device whereby legislation could be scrutinised more efficiently, I would look at that.

Mr. Winnick : Does my hon. Friend agree that the British-Irish parliamentary body, on which we both have the honour to serve, at least provides a forum where British and Irish parliamentarians can meet twice a year? Does he also agree that, although the violence of the provisional IRA and others who claim with no legitimacy to speak for the Irish people as a whole, is sickening, it is equally disgusting, disgraceful and sickening to see those who claim to be loyal to the Unionist cause killing, tit for tat, for no reason other than that people happen to be Catholic?

Mr. Mallon : The inter-parliamentary body has been successful. Last week there was a successful visit by members of one of those committees to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It did not sit in the hallowed tombs of Stormont or Leinster House, but went out to the border areas, saw the problems and listened to those involved. It was a remarkable education for all of us, including me, who has lived there for many years.

The hon. Member for Stockton, North (Mr. Cook) knows my views on violence from whatever source. Let those involved in violence--who plan it, carry it out or are in any way responsible for it--realise the damage that they are doing to people living in the district. They damage not only the unfortunate victims and their families, and those touched in an immediate way by the violence, but the entire community. Such violence saps hope and resilience out of a community, and induces despair. As the rest of Europe and the world progresses, are we to be left in a quagmire of despair at the end of another parliamentary Session, another era and another century? Is it too much to hope, ask or even start demanding that those who exercise authority in respect of the problem--those sitting in Government, whether here or in the Republic of Ireland--start to solve that problem? We should at least be able to start anew with some element of hope.

There are no excuses left for me or anyone in my position, for Government or for Opposition. Some people try to use the escape hatch of saying that the problem is a religious one, but it is not, although there are substantial religious overtones. It is not a socio-economic problem, although poverty exacerbates it. It is not an ethnic problem, although differences of identity are involved. It is simply and solely a political problem which politicians, political parties and Governments must set about solving through the political process. If we do not do that, we are abdicating responsibility and refusing to fulfil our primary role--to tackle and solve problems of a substantial nature. If we do not begin to address the problem, we shall be doing irreparable damage to our political profession, which I greatly respect. We shall be debasing and

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demeaning it, and allowing people involved in violence, thuggery and gangsterism to usurp the role of elected representatives. The question I pose is the one that I asked at the beginning of my speech : do those in government and opposition have the courage to set about creating a new beginning to bring about peace, political stability, and an end to the tensions between Ireland and Britain, and can they bring the beginnings of hope for my constituents and the people in the north of Ireland? We shall answer that question ; we shall not ignore it when it crops up. When the time is right to speak about it we shall do so. The time was right for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to do so today, but they did not. Out of sight is not out of mind ; the problem will not go away, but must be solved. It is our job to do so.

7.25 pm

Sir Anthony Grant (Cambridgeshire, South-West) : I shall not follow the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh (Mr. Mallon) who spoke about Ireland, because I am not qualified to do so, except to say that Ireland recently gave us the best rugby match in the world cup. Many years ago I spent several happy hours playing rugby against and with the London Irish and other Irish teams of both Catholics and Protestants. We played and fought hard, and it is sad to reflect that the plethora of political parties to which the hon. Member referred seems unable to produce the good will, fellowship and spirit that prevailed in those days.

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Walker) who so skilfully moved the Loyal Address. He and I have been friends for many years ; we were Young Conservatives together--it seems like almost 100 years ago--and since then we have remained friends. I have increasingly admired his remarkable ability. In my parliamentary experience, I do not think that there is anybody with such quick political acumen. As one who served as a junior Minister in his Department many years ago, I know of no one as good at creating a team spirit among colleagues. He will be missed from the Chamber and I shall miss him personally.

I shall confine my remarks to one aspect of the Queen's Speech, the citizens charter, which is important. Historically we were brought up to believe that the customer was always right. During the war there were queues of people docilely waiting while rations were doled out. If we add to that the natural British subservience and our reluctance to complain, we realise the bleak position of the time, which to some extent continues. We then experienced post-war austerity under gloomy Sir Stafford Cripps, with ever increasing demands for higher standards. We sometimes responded to those demands with excessively bureaucratic consumerism ; quangos were set up, the sole effect of which was not so much to help the citizen but to stifle industry, particularly small industry.

I am sorry to say to Opposition Members that since the war we have been cursed with the wretched socialist philosophy that work is for the benefit of employees, not consumers, and employees come first, while customers come second or last. The return of free enterprise and healthy competition has changed all that. However, I must make the criticism that in recent years, despite some improvement, we have faced another dangerous new

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philosophy in the business world, that what one can get away with is justified. I condemn that philosophy. It has become fashionable to skate just within the law.

I spent much of my working life in the City of London and was brought up to believe that my word was my bond, which was the traditional philosophy. I am bound to say that if someone in the City today were to say that his word was his bond, one would be well advised to take his bond. It is not just one side of our industrial affairs that must be rectified. Nationalised industries and so-called state enterprises are still the most ghastly and still give the worst service.

When dealing with staff at any British Rail terminal booking office, one would think that they did not want to sell a ticket, so reluctant are they. I think that the standard of service given by British Rail staff at any terminal would be bettered by that given by the Prison Officers Association in somewhere like Brixton prison. I know that one receives better service at Littlehey prison in my constituency than at any British Rail terminal.

Reference has been made to the national health service. In many ways the service within the NHS has been deplorable. Opposition Members should take note that the service was particularly appalling in 1979 when they were in office. In my constituency we will never forget the time when, due to action taken by the Confederation of Health Service Employees at the famous Addenbrookes hospital, consultants' records were seized, appointments and operations were cancelled and wards had to be closed. We should not listen for one moment to criticism from the Opposition on standards in the NHS which have improved dramatically over the years but which still leave a great deal to be desired. That is not true of the clinical treatment of patients, which is superb. At Papworth and Addenbrookes hospital in my constituency patients receive fine, top-class treatment from surgeons, physicians and experts--better than anywhere else in the world. People come from all over the world to receive the treatment, but the service falls down in its administrative and ancillary sectors.

The way in which NHS patients are sometimes treated is unreasonable. I cite the example of a member of my own family. A little while ago, I had occasion to visit an elderly relative who was dying in hospital. It was not in my constituency, but it was a good hospital, and I have no criticisms of the treatment that she received. However, when I asked my relative whether there was anything she needed, she pointed out that the light bulb above her bed was broken. She had asked a nurse about it, but could not get anything done. When I spoke to the nurse, she told me that she could not get a light bulb from the caretaker, and the ward sister told me that she had also met with no success. I told her that I would go and see the caretaker for a light bulb, and would even fit it myself. The sister was not sure whether he would release a light bulb to me, but I said that I would try.

Off I went into some dungeon, where I found some cloth-capped oik, who was filling in his football coupon. With great difficulty, I managed to persuade him to give me a light bulb and to fit one for another patient. That kind of poor service is disgraceful and intolerable when one is dealing with elderly people. It is the kind of poor service that lets the NHS down. It is not the fault of the

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people at the top, surgeons, or nurses, but of staff further down the ladder who need shaking up. That is why the citizens charter is vital. It is a relevant and most necessary concept for the 1990s. It would be wonderful if it were the prelude to that long- forgotten quality known as good manners.

If the citizens charter is to be effective, it must have powerful teeth. We must be careful that it does not provide another excuse for yet more litigation. When that legislation comes before the House, we must ensure that it is tightly drawn, because we would not want an endless series of court cases to arise from it.

The charter should not only deal with contractual obligations, and serve merely as an extension of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, but protect the citizen's other fundamental rights and provide remedies in tort as well as in contract. One of the greatest curses affecting society today is that of noise, which increasingly makes life intolerable for many. I refer, for example, to the amplification of electronic so-called music, and the consequences of the remorseless growth of the internal combustion engine. The noise problem is growing worse and worse and is physically affecting many people, and is something that the citizens charter should address.

Likewise--and here I declare an interest as president of the Guild of Experienced Motorists--we must protect the individual's right to stay alive and uninjured on our roads and motorways, and particularly on the M25 and on the M11 in my constituency. As I have told Ministers straight out before, the smug comparison of figures with other European countries is of no comfort to the bereaved or to the permanently injured.

The concept of the citizens charter is vital and ought to be pursued with all vigour. It is a concept that stems from the enthusiasm of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, whom I beg to continue pressing his Ministers hard to implement it. The citizens charter will make a great and overdue contribution to the quality of life of many if it is vigorously put into effect.

Today's Queen's Speech was the first that my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) has heard as Prime Minister. As others of my right hon. and hon. Friends said, it will undoubtedly be the first of many. I am immensely proud to have him as a fellow Cambridgeshire Member of Parliament. In the short time that he has been at No. 10 Downing street, he has transformed many of our affairs for the better. He is very much a man of the 1990s and beyond, and deserves the wholehearted support of not only the House but the nation as a whole.

7.33 pm

Mr. William Ross (Londonderry, East) : The hon. Member for Newry and Armagh (Mr. Mallon) seems to have doubts about the good work that could be carried out by a Select Committee. There is little enough time to devote to debates about Northern Ireland on the Floor of the House, and perhaps the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh is labouring under a misunderstanding. If such a Select Committee came into being, the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh, like the rest of us, would be able to call and to question Ministers to find out what is going on. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman, as much as any right hon. or hon. Member, would welcome such an opportunity.

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Today, we heard the last Gracious Speech before the general election and there were clear signs in the House this afternoon that the election campaign is now well and truly under way after several false starts earlier this year. It will be a long campaign, lasting for up to eight months according to the Prime Minister.

Every right hon. and hon. Member will have an interest in particular legislation mentioned in the Gracious Speech and Members of Parliament representing Ulster constituencies naturally take a special interest in the commitment to defeat terrorism in Northern Ireland and to deal with prison disorder. I wonder whether the latter Bill will be confined to Great Britain or will be extended to the whole of the United Kingdom.

Right hon. and hon. Members will also hold different views on the order of priority and importance of the proposed legislation. However, given that the Prime Minister will be taking part in the Maastricht conference later this year, no one should be in any doubt about which of the decisions to be taken during the lifetime of this Session will be of the greatest import, and have the biggest consequences for right hon. and hon. Members, Parliament, and the people of this country for many years ahead.

The Gracious Speech referred to the Government's pursuit, within the framework of the exchange rate mechanism, of

"firm financial policies designed to reduce inflation further and maintain the conditions necessary for sustained growth."

We should not need the straitjacket of the ERM to achieve that aim, because it should be a basic requirement of any elected Government. I listened with interest to the Prime Minister's comments on that aspect and to his remark that the country needs sound money. What is any Government elected for, if not to provide sound money? Inflation is simply the theft of people's work and savings. The Prime Minister said that he wants to retain our national identity and that, in his opinion--presumably he was speaking for his Cabinet and party as well--a single European currency could be a recipe for disaster unless certain conditions are satisfied.

The question before us is far more fundamental. It is one that has engaged the attention of Parliament for centuries ; that of control and supply. It is the question of the control of the nation's wealth and economy. It took Parliament a very long time to wrest that control from the Crown and we forget at our peril the battles that were fought in that respect by our spiritual forerunners in this place.

It is no secret that I do not love the concept of a European superstate. I never have done and I have found no reason, since first entering the House 18 years ago, to change my mind. If we do not control our own money supply and the other factors that influence our national economy, someone else will. I never was too happy about someone else being in charge of my household budget. I prefer it to remain within the control of my wife and myself and to abide by the good biblical teaching on that particular question.

We will surrender at our peril control over our own economy and the value of our currency. That control should remain within the House. Only if we retain control of these things will we retain our national identity. Without control of the nation's finances, we will rapidly

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find that we shall be dictated to by someone else, not only on whether a railway will be built but on every facet of the decisions that the House takes.

If hon. Members doubt what I say, I suggest that they take a few days off, go across to Northern Ireland and look at the political situation in the Province and the way in which it is run. They will then understand what political powerlessness is and how corrosive that is in a community. The House should learn from what it has inflicted on that Province. If hon. Members have not taken the time to do that, unlike the hon. Member for Cambridgeshire, South-West (Sir A. Grant), it is time that they improved their education. It is impossible to sign up in principle to a united European superstate and then escape the consequences ; because those consequences are inevitable, there is no escape. The decision is whether we want to submerge ourselves within that state and submit to the rule of others. As we are grossly outnumbered, it would be to the rule of others.

There are those who will say to me, as they will say on many occasions in the next few weeks and months, "What about the fact that we simply cannot survive on our own?" That is the greatest insult that can be offered to the nation and its people. The folk who say that have not considered the economic miracle of Germany and the even greater economic miracle of Japan, the colossus that bestrides the world. There is no good reason why this nation cannot do as well as they have done, other than the mismanagement of our affairs from which we have suffered for so many years. The nation has tremendous natural and human resources and if they are properly directed, applied and motivated, they will give the results that we have seen in those two nations.

The other evening, I listened to a Conservative Member of Parliament speaking on television--I cannot remember who it was. He said that there were 15 or 20 Conservatives who were totally against Europe and who would always be of that mind, and that about the same number were totally committted to Europe. In other words, about 30 or 40 people in the Conservative party were committted either for or against and had closed minds, but the rest of the party was somewhere in the middle. I ask those in the middle whether, when the vote comes and they consider the issues, they will follow their conscience or be driven, by the Whips, into the Lobby that they should not be in. Only the Liberal Democrats seem to have no divisions in their ranks. They decided long ago that they cannot manage the country--if they had not, they would not be taking the attitude that they are now taking. All the other parties know that they have divisions in their ranks. The Conservative party cracks are perhaps more apparent than the Labour party ones. I say to the country at large--although, as most of the gentlemen of the press have departed, I doubt that many will read my words--that Labour Members who are present know of the divisions beneath the thin coat of paper that has been laid over their European policy. I pray God that all those divisions will surface in a solemn and cohesive manner across the House and I will then again have hope for my country and its future.

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7.44 pm

Sir Anthony Meyer (Clwyd, North-West) : I add to the tributes to my right hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Walker) whose elegant and delightful speech captivated the House. For 30 years, my right hon. Friend has represented a Conservative tradition that I have always tried to follow. I had the pleasure of serving under him when he was Secretary of State for Wales and seeing how well he was able to apply in practice those Conservative traditions. I have with me a copy of his excellent book, price £16.99, published by Bloomsbury. I get no commission for this puff, but in the light of the interesting speech that we have just heard from the hon. Member for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross), I should like to quote from the book. It concerns Europe, which will be the subject of my speech.

Speaking of my right hon. Friend the Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher), the former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend says, quite categorically :

"She got it wrong on Europe. This was partly because of her patriotic feelings and her reluctance to give up sovereignty. Yet sovereignty is no longer that relevant. The world is so interlinked. We give up sovereignty on defence to belong to NATO and on trade to be part of the European Community. It is to our advantage. The prospect of European monetary union and a single currency has upset some Tory MPs. It should not do so. My children will see a united Europe and a European currency. It is only the timing which is in doubt. What has been done will lead inevitably to greater conformity in Europe's economic performance, on inflation, wage levels, investment. Once that is achieved a single currency and union will be easier to agree."

This is the last time that I shall be speaking in the debate on the Address. I made my maiden speech in the same debate very nearly 27 years ago, and I spoke then, as I shall speak now, about Britain's relations with Europe. I have never before quoted myself, but perhaps I can break my rule for this one last time. I said :

"I had the privilege of working closely"

with the then right hon. Member for Stechford, now Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, and with the then right hon. Member for Gloucester, now Lord Diamond, on what I called

"the great enterprise with which the name of my right hon. Friend the Member for Bexley (Mr. Heath) will always be associated In that great enterprise there were political ideals the vision of nations living together in a new and better way."--[ Official Report, 10 November 1964 ; Vol. 701, c. 890-91.]

Many things have changed in 27 years. Britain is now a member of the European Community, but there are still people who complain that they were never told that there was a political dimension to our membership--what utter rot! What nonsense to talk about there having been no debate on these issues. No issue has been more thoroughly and exhaustively debated in our political life. It has not been a very good debate, and that is because all too many of the opponents of Europe, who recently took to calling themselves the Bruges group until that collapsed in public ridicule and who now call themselves Euro-sceptics, insist on reducing every debate to an argument for or against membership when that question was settled a long time ago. I know that those people are now talking about the need to enlarge the Community rather than to strengthen it, but no one believes that that is what they really want. Are they suggesting, for example, that free movement of labour should swiftly extend to all the countries of eastern

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