| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
European Single Currency
12. Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet his EU counterparts to discuss the introduction of the single currency. [18532]
Mr. Kenneth Clarke: The forum in which EU Finance Ministers meet to discuss economic and monetary union is the Economic and Finance Council, which is known as ECOFIN. The next ECOFIN meeting is scheduled to be held on 17 March 1997.
Mr. Atkinson: What assessment have my right hon. and learned Friend and his European Union colleagues made of the overriding need to ensure that the computer systems involved in the introduction of the single currency are millennium-compliant? Is he aware of the
growing concern among information technology experts that, because those are the two largest information projects ever to be undertaken, it will prove impossible to meet the deadline of introducing a single currency on 1 January 1999? Even Brussels would be unable to keep the clock back at five minutes to 12 at the turn of the millennium. Will my right hon. and learned Friend ensure that the matter is on the agenda of the forthcoming intergovernmental conference in Amsterdam?
Mr. Clarke: It would be more suitable to raise the matter at ECOFIN in due course and in the Monetary Committee, where all such practical matters are addressed, but at this stage the European Commission obviously should be consulting as widely as possible about all these practical problems. I think that the date of 1 January 1999 is looking surrounded by doubt in many other ways, but certainly the problem of computer compliance is complicated by the important millennium problem, which my hon. Friend points out.
Mr. Winnick: When the Chancellor meets his EU counterparts, will he consider the possibility of taking the hon. Member for Reigate (Sir G. Gardiner) with him? If he does so, should the Chancellor not explain that, on the issue of the single currency, the hon. Gentleman, who is now in the Referendum party, represents far more of his former Tory colleagues than the Chancellor does?
Mr. Clarke: I have known the hon. Member for Reigate (Sir G. Gardiner) for many years and I remember him as a passionate supporter of the European Movement. He and I held similar views on the whole question until five or six years ago. He seems to have wandered away from my views a little, but I always hold hopes that one day he will return.
Mr. Bill Walker: My right hon. and learned Friend will be aware that I am not a member of such an organisation and never have been. Will he also recognise that the important thing about structures of any type is that they must be sound, they must be based on what can be delivered and they must last? In the present circumstances, it looks unlikely that any dates will ever be met.
Mr. Clarke: I share my hon. Friend's approach. One of the British contributions that we can make to the discussions is to be sensible, to concentrate on the practicalities and to insist that all decisions are taken on the clearest possible basis of a judgment of what is in the interest of the European economy and then of what is in the interest of the British economy. It is absolutely essential that no economic and monetary union should take place unless there are genuinely convergent economies. Convergence matters more than any artificial timetable.
Mr. MacShane: In any consideration of the single currency, the level at which the pound enters to promote British interests is important. This soon-to-go Chancellor is presiding over a yo-yo currency. Why is he refusing to meet British Steel and other businesses, which want to discuss with him the fact that the rise in sterling that we are experiencing will cost dividends, reduce profits and have an impact on jobs? His final gesture of goodbye will be to hurt British manufacturing industry because of his incompetence in handling our currency.
Mr. Clarke: We have a floating exchange rate at the moment and, for that reason, I do not control its level.
Finance Ministers do not control the level of exchange rates in today's deregulated foreign exchange markets. We are pursuing strong, stable economic policies aimed at keeping inflation down, keeping the public finances healthy and maintaining the fundamentals of the economy, but thereafter the markets make their own judgment. The consequences of that cause people to keep addressing the question whether to have a single currency in the European Union, but it remains at the moment quite uncertain where we are going to go on that great issue.Income Tax
13. Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people (a) are paying income tax in the current financial year and (b) would have been paying income tax if the tax regime had been indexed and maintained since 1978-79. [18534]
Mr. Jack: There are 25.6 million income tax payers in 1996-97. If we had maintained and indexed the 1978-79 tax regime, 1.8 million more people would pay income tax.
Mr. Greenway: Do not those figures say it all?
Mr. Mackinlay: Last time, Harry.
Mr. Greenway: We are the party of low taxation, and it is time that the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) learnt that. He supports a party of high taxation--individual, collective and every other kind. That is the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats, and it always will be.
Mr. Jack: My hon. Friend is right. He knows that people are better off under the Conservatives because of our tax policies. He knows that we have one of the lowest tax burdens in Europe. The burden is 39 per cent. of gross domestic product in Germany and 45 per cent. in France, but only 35 per cent. in the United Kingdom. He also knows that, with £30 billion-worth of spending pledges attached to their name, the Opposition would raise taxes to fill their black hole.
Mr. Pike: How many people in Tory Britain work full time, but still do not earn enough to pay tax?
Mr. Jack: I refer the hon. Gentleman to today's Financial Times, where he will see a demolition job of Labour's attempt to deal with that problem. The minimum wage is described, effectively, as a tax milch cow for Labour.
PRIME MINISTER
Engagements
Q1. Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 13 March. [18548]
The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major): This morning, I presided at a meeting of the Cabinet and had
meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.
Mr. Chidgey: No doubt the Prime Minister will join me in condemning the leaking of the Select Committee report on nursery vouchers. Does he share the Committee's concern that nursery vouchers appear to be failing to provide parental choice, failing to improve standards and failing to provide more places? Does he accept that there is great folly in pressing ahead with a national scheme before the pilot schemes have been properly tested?
The Prime Minister: I share the hon. Gentleman's dismay that someone has chosen to leak a report. I have not yet read it, so I am unable to comment in detail on what may or may not be in it. As a matter of principle, rather than on the specific issue raised by the Select Committee report, parents have choice because of the voucher scheme. Without the voucher scheme, the only way to obtain a free nursery place would be to send one's child to a state school. There was no choice or opportunity and the half a million parents who have taken up the option will be indicating that they believe that choice is right. The voucher scheme has also led to an increase in the number of places.
Ministerial Visit (Kent)
Q2. Mr. Dunn: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to visit north-west Kent. [18549]
The Prime Minister: I have, at present, no plans to do so.
Mr. Dunn: Is the Prime Minister aware that the people of north-west Kent are glad to be part of an independent nation state and to play their part in our dynamic enterprise economy? They want nothing to do with those who spend their time selling Britain out or who would like to spend their time selling Britain short.
The Prime Minister: I agree with my hon. Friend that the people of north-west Kent are glad to be part of an independent nation state. I agree that they and the rest of the United Kingdom have benefited enormously from the economic improvements of the past few years. They, like everyone else, enjoy the benefits of much lower inflation than we have had for many years, the lowest mortgage rate for 30 years and the lowest unemployment rate of any major European country. We intend to continue to pursue the policies that will ensure that they can continue to enjoy those things for many years to come.
Engagements
Q3. Mr. Stewart: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 13 March. [18550]
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Stewart: Does my right hon. Friend agree that the policy of central Government control of non-domestic
rates has yielded immense benefits to industry and commerce, especially to small companies? Does he also agree that placing decisions on business rates under local control would add billions to industrial costs in the United Kingdom, undermine our inward investment efforts and threaten the very existence of huge numbers of small firms throughout Britain?
The Prime Minister: I have no doubt that my hon. Friend is right about that. The non-domestic rate set by central Government for England and Wales has never risen faster than the rate of inflation, and in Scotland the rate has been reduced in real terms. That is in sharp distinction to what occurred when local authorities set the business rate, often by attempting to hold down the domestic rate and pile costs upon business. That is one of the significant reasons why so many companies were forced out of inner-city areas, leaving the problems that we have been attempting to deal with.
Mr. Blair: I have given you, Madam Speaker, and the Prime Minister notice of my question. Will the Prime Minister join me in recalling that it is a year to the day since the terrible events in Dunblane? We remember the little ones who died, and we grieve with their parents and their friends. They will not be lost to the nation's memory. We all say to the people of Dunblane that our thoughts and prayers are with them today and in the years to come.
One year ago, the House stood united in shock at the senseless and appalling tragedy in Dunblane. Today, whatever our differences are on any other matter, we are united again, this time in sorrow and in commemoration of those who died.
The Prime Minister:
I have no doubt that the right hon. Gentleman has spoken for everyone in the House, and for millions beyond it. We all remember with great clarity the horror we felt when we heard of those appalling events. I remember visiting the school and the gymnasium with the right hon. Gentleman, and I do not believe that either of us will ever forget the scenes that we saw there; neither will anyone else who visited the school. Clearly, this will be a very difficult and emotional time for the bereaved and for the entire community of Dunblane. I am sure that the thoughts not only of the House but of the nation are with them today.
Mr. Harris:
May I raise with my right hon. Friend another tragic matter--the loss of two fishing boats, the Westhaven, from Arbroath, and the Gorah Lass, from St. Ives in my constituency? Will he express the sympathy of all hon. Members to the relatives of the seven men who are feared dead? Will he also honour the debt that we all owe to the fishing industry, and ensure that the investigating authorities have the resources to conduct speedily and thoroughly the urgent task of investigating the cause of that double tragedy?
The Prime Minister:
Seven fishermen have lost their lives this week, in two separate incidents. I am sure that the House will join my hon. Friend in extending every sympathy to the family and friends of those involved in those tragic accidents. I understand that both incidents are being investigated by the marine accidents investigation
Q4. Mr. Jamieson:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 13 March. [18551]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Jamieson:
Has the Prime Minister seen the written answer to me from the Secretary of State for Defence on 20 February 1997, which confirmed that most of the "British beef" consumed by Her Majesty's armed forces is purchased from Spanish-speaking South American countries? Does he not think it more likely that the ban on British beef would be lifted by the European Union if it saw that the British Government were backing British beef?
The Prime Minister:
I have not seen the particular answer to which the hon. Gentleman refers, but I assure him that the British Government back British beef. That has been apparent in the resources that have been put into supporting the beef industry during the difficult past year or so.
Sir George Gardiner:
My right hon. Friend will have read of the campaign being waged by the British section of the European Movement to persuade the voters to scrap the pound and to move towards a federal European state. In view of the vast sums being given by the European Commission to that movement, will he say how much British taxpayers' money is being laundered through the Commission for that rather dubious exercise?
The Prime Minister:
I am not entirely sure that without notice I can give a figure to my--to the hon. Gentleman on that particular matter. I would add that, from all that I read and understand, there is quite a lot of money available to both sides of the argument.
Q5. Mr. Fraser:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 13 March. [18552]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Fraser:
As this is probably the last opportunity I shall have to ask the Prime Minister a question, may I, as one ex-Lambeth councillor to another, wish him a long and happy retirement? It might have been otherwise--because does he realise that when he was running a housing department in Lambeth, under a Labour Government, he started more municipal homes to rent in one year than every single housing authority in England and Wales is now starting in the current year, and that the shortfall is by no means made up by housing associations?
The Prime Minister:
The reason for that, of course, was the dereliction and despair that I inherited from the Labour council, which had spent 30 years damaging the quality of life in Lambeth and has continued to do so whenever it has managed to persuade the people of Lambeth to re-elect it.
Mr. Dykes:
If my right hon. Friend has the chance during his busy day, will he reconsider the strange question
The Prime Minister:
I believe that my hon. Friend has made his point very clearly and forcefully.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |