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2.59 pm
Mr. Tony Blair (Sedgefield): Before turning to the Queen's Speech, it is customary to pay tribute to former Members of Parliament who have died in the past year. Today I pay tribute to both Sir David Lightbown and Terry Patchett. David Lightbown was one of the most colourful characters in this place and will be remembered by all. I have some special words to say about Terry Patchett. He and I came to the House in 1983 and he worked tirelessly for the mining communities of Yorkshire. Both men were dedicated workers on behalf of their constituents and they will be sorely missed by all hon. Members.
I turn now to the two speeches that preceded mine. I thought that the speech by the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir N. Fowler) was a model of its kind, being both witty and amusing. I hope that I will not embarrass him by reminding him of the letter that I sent him when he left to spend more time with his family--something that we devoutly desire on behalf of all Conservative Members after the election. He will recall that in my letter I said that I could think of no worthier motive for ending a ministerial career.
I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will not be embarrassed if I remind him of his reply: he wrote back almost immediately to say courteously that he did not intend to retire from politics altogether. Indeed he did not, as before long he returned as Conservative party chairman--which, I hope that he will not mind my saying, is a rather curious way of insulting his family. I am sure that he found that the job was not easy, but at least he never resorted to the measures now in operation under the right hon. Member for Peterborough (Dr. Mawhinney).
I understand that the right hon. Gentleman recently wrote a letter asking for donations from people at the special hospital, Crowthorne, Buckinghamshire--otherwise known as Broadmoor. If I were truly unkind, I would say that perhaps we have reached the stage when only the criminally insane would give money to the Conservative party--but I will not do so. The right hon. Gentleman's speech was well received on both sides of the House, and I pay tribute to him.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Field) on his speech. I cannot say that I have always agreed with his politics, but we do have one thing in common: this time last year, he and I had the identical aim, of getting rid of the Prime Minister. I am sorry to remind him of that--I thought that he skated over it somewhat in his speech. The right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield and the hon. Member for Isle of Wight can be very proud of their speeches today.
Before turning to the Queen's Speech, I must refer to Northern Ireland, which was mentioned in it. We will continue our bipartisan support of the Government in their efforts to work for a comprehensive and balanced settlement, together with the Irish Government and the parties in Northern Ireland. We shall support the Bill on decommissioning. I add my call to those of others for Sinn Fein and the IRA to take the path of peace. Unless they do, the search for peace and reconciliation will continue without them. They should call a ceasefire immediately and, if the latest threats of a bombing campaign are true, the IRA must understand that neither the House nor any party in it will ever give in to terrorism or the threat of terrorism.
I think that everyone knows--perhaps even some Conservative Members--that we should not be debating a Loyal Address today; we should be having a general election. [Interruption.] I do not know why Conservative Members are not keen on that idea if they are so confident of their position. All the elements are present for an election: a Government who are no longer governing; the civil service in a state of suspended animation, waiting for some decision making to begin again; the parties geared up; and the country wanting to make a judgment. Every element is there, bar one--the election itself. That is absent for only one reason: the Conservatives dare not call a general election.
If the summer campaign had worked, the Conservatives would have called the election by now. If the tax-cutting Budget works in a few weeks, they will go then. If the next big, deceitful, negative advertising campaign--financed by secret sources--in January works, they will go then. If none of those strategies works, they will wait until May, when our ancient, decent British constitution draws a line and demands a verdict from the people.
How do the Conservatives seek re-election? By that brazen old Tory con trick--they pretend that they who have been in power for 17 years have absolutely no responsibility whatever for the state of the nation that they have governed. Indeed, they pretend that they are as appalled as the rest of us at what has happened. So they tell us, for example, that crime--especially violent crime--is terrible and that something must be done about it. They even tell us that the national health service has been swamped by bureaucracy and that that really must stop. It is a disgrace, they say, that so many of our children are so poorly educated. We must in time, they say, mount an economic recovery that is not knocked off course by economic mismanagement and mistaken public finances.
It is as if the Conservatives had just landed from Mars or as if they had been in exile for 17 years and had returned and discovered how shocking things really were. But who doubled crime to give us, over 17 years, the fastest growing crime rate in Europe? They did. Who undermined the national health service and smothered it with red tape? They did. Who made the economic mistakes of the late 80s and early 90s that now must be corrected? They did. Who gave us an education system in which half our 11-year-olds do not reach the right standards in English and maths? They did. [Interruption.] Oh, it is all our fault. They have been in government for more than 17 years, but it is all our fault.
If our society is torn and fractured--as it is--I ask who in part fractured it? They did. There are causes deeper than any Government in some of the serious social problems that we face, but Government cannot escape responsibility for society's fracture.
Mr. David Shaw (Dover):
What about the trade unions?
Mr. Blair:
They blame it on the trade unions. Seventeen years in office and they never take responsibility for their mistakes.
When the Government cut out dole payments to 16 and 17-year-olds so that some were forced on to the streets, did that not contribute to the fracture of our society? When there are now, in our country today, 120,000
homeless families, does that not contribute to a fractured society? When in the Budget the number of training places for the unemployed was slashed by 40,000, did that not contribute to a fractured society?
When that part of our society that can afford to takes private health care, sends its children to private schools and shuns public transport, because it can no longer tolerate the waiting times, the mixed quality and the degeneration of public transport, does that not contribute to the fracturing of our society? And when we know that after 17 years--after tax cuts followed by tax rises--the average family has seen its tax burden rise, but the top 1.5 per cent. of the population has had its tax burden slashed, does that not contribute to a fractured society? When the old-age pensioner sits in her flat this winter and pauses before lighting the fire because of VAT on her fuel bill, does that not contribute to the fractured society?
A fractured society indeed. But all the fine words of Ministers will not mend it. We will mend this fractured society when those who fractured it--those who said that there was no such thing as society--are no longer governing our society.
Mr. Jerry Hayes (Harlow):
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way mid-soundbite. He was kind enough to visit my constituency by helicopter not long ago. Did he spend only 10 minutes there because the Labour party in Harlow, almost to a man, voted for clause IV and against new Labour, or was it because we have one of the highest spending, most incompetent Labour councils in the country? Will he come again?
Mr. Blair:
I think that the people of Harlow will pass their verdict on the hon. Gentleman at the next election. They will do so precisely because of the bankruptcies and business failures that the Government have visited upon his constituents.
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