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Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover): It is his focus group.
The Prime Minister: From the policies that the right hon. Gentleman is espousing, I think that it probably is his focus group. The House of Lords is dominated by the 750 hereditaries. The vast bulk who take the Whip take the Tory Whip, with the result that in our bicameral system, the Houses of Parliament, one House is in the permanent hands, in perpetuity, of one party--the Tory party. That may suit the interests of the Tory party, but it does not satisfy the interests of the country.
Look what the Leader of the Opposition says about the House of Lords, this independent representative body. Out of 750 of them, there is one black and one Asian and there are 14 women. How can the Tories seriously say that that is representative? Almost half the 750 went to Eton. I have nothing against people going to Eton--
Sir Norman Fowler (Sutton Coldfield):
Or private schools.
The Prime Minister:
Or private schools, no, but we were elected; that is the difference. For the Leader of the Opposition to make support for the hereditary peers the centrepiece of his attack on the Government only indicates, I am afraid, that whatever the jokes and the debate, when it comes to the issues of big strategic judgment, he gets them wrong every single time.
What is more, we have made it clear that no party, whatever its view, will have an overall majority in the House of Lords. A strong, independent Cross-Bench element will be preserved. We are suggesting the first change to the sole right of the Prime Minister to recommend life peers. Before the royal commission--which will have a time limit--is established, we will set out as the Labour party our submissions about what the final stage of reform should look like. We will let other parties do the same. The more that can be done by consensus, the better. It is time to end the feudal domination of one half of our legislature by the Tory party, which claims a divine right to govern Britain and makes a hash of it every time that it does.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield):
How many times during the 18 years of Conservative Government
The Prime Minister:
As I keep saying about independence, the vast bulk of the hereditary peers are Tories. Those are the people who turn up. The hon. Gentleman suggested that the House of Lords used to defeat the Conservative Government as much as it defeats the Labour Government. That is emphatically not the case, I am afraid. In the past Session, the Lords defeated the Labour Government about three times more often than they defeated the Tories. They always do that. In any event, a system in which one part of the Houses of Parliament is perpetually in the ownership of the Conservative party cannot be justified. That is the position that the Conservatives stand for and it cannot be right. It is certainly the only policy on which the Leader of the Opposition evinced any real passion. If the Conservatives wish to make that the centrepiece of their opposition, let them.
I join the right hon. Gentleman in his remarks about Northern Ireland and about the right hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble) and the hon. Member for Foyle (Mr. Hume). In particular, I thank the right hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) for starting the peace process. I strongly support what they have done and pay tribute to all those who have been involved in the process to bring about a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland. That includes my right hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Marjorie Mowlam).
We still face a difficult challenge. We shall never forget the people of Omagh and the suffering imposed on them by the terrorists. We shall ensure that the whole of the agreement is implemented in full. That is the position that we have taken throughout and we have to carry on with it. We shall not rest until we have a lasting settlement in place in Northern Ireland. I ask for the support of the whole House in trying to bring that about. That cross-party support has been important and will continue to be so.
I mentioned--[Interruption.]
Madam Speaker:
Order. I have heard many comments from sedentary positions today and I think that we have had enough.
The Prime Minister:
I mentioned the strategic errors of judgment of the Leader of the Opposition earlier. Perhaps I can now deal with Europe. The lifting of the beef ban is important in its own right, but let us be clear; it has been achieved only because of a new and different relationship with Europe. We are engaged, succeeding and getting results for Britain. In the coming year, we have to continue to focus on the programme of economic reform, the need to make subsidiarity a reality, pushing forward the negotiations for enlargement and taking forward the debate in Europe on a common foreign and security policy and our defence capabilities.
Whatever the siren calls of the Opposition, we shall continue to prepare for the euro. There are only two intellectually coherent positions on the euro. One is to believe that there are overwhelming constitutional reasons against entry, which means opposing entry for ever.
That is the position of a good part of the Conservative party, including its shadow leader, the former Defence Secretary.
The other argument is that the constitutional arguments are not overwhelming and the decision should based on the UK's national economic interest. That is the Labour position. The Conservative party's official position--that we should be against entry for 10 years or two Parliaments or whatever is the right hon. Gentleman's position of the day--is ridiculous. Either the constitutional objections are overwhelming or they are not. The right hon. Gentleman's position is determined not by logic or reason, but by the divisions in the Conservative party. That is the burden that this country carried for the last years of Conservative Government. The right hon. Gentleman mentioned party funding. The Conservatives are led--and, as his rather incomplete party accounts show, funded--by those who want to drive Britain ever further to the margins of Europe. I believe that to be a betrayal of our true national interest. It is no surprise that the right hon. Gentleman did not dwell on it in his speech, but it is an important subject. He should go away and think less about his lines and more about the serious topics of the day.
Mr. Giles Radice (North Durham):
I congratulate the Government on their position on the euro. Did my right hon. Friend note that, yesterday, 100 leaders of Britain's top companies--which represent a quarter of this country's gross domestic product--called for entry into the euro sooner rather than later?
The Prime Minister:
Yes, I certainly did notice that. Our position is that there must be sustainable economic convergence in order to ensure that entry is in our interests. We set out that position in our manifesto and hold to it.
I agree strongly with my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr. Radice) and the signatories to the letter that we cannot pretend--as the Conservatives do--that the issue will go away. The euro will exist from 1 January next year and will have an enormous impact on British business, whether we are in or out of it. Some companies and people will use it and, in all probability, some shops will accept it. It is vital that we prepare our country for the euro, and that is what we are doing.
One more Bill is worthy of note. Indeed, in time, it may have as great an impact as any we debate today--although I bet that it will not merit much attention in tomorrow's press. We are in the midst of an industrial revolution that will take two decades, not two centuries, to complete. The internet is setting the pace. It is the fastest spreading technology ever. It is growing exponentially--literally--with use doubling every 100 days.
It is the new electronic market for airline tickets, insurance and even for household goods. Last year, just three companies generated £2 billion in sales from the internet. It is predicted that, within five years, electronic commerce could be worth more than £300 billion. The internet is literally transforming industries. It may be commonplace to discuss this revolution, but it is not yet common for Governments to have a strategy for dealing with it. Britain does, and it is part of our vision for this country's future: to build an economy that is based on knowledge, creativity and skill rather than on competition for low wages, low skill and low technology.
We will take three steps towards making this country No. 1 in the area of electronic commerce. First, we will introduce an electronic commerce Bill in this Parliament. Our historical strength as a trading nation was based on our framework of commercial law. We need to put that legislation in place as fast as possible in order to boost that new market in Britain.
Secondly, we will invest in skills. Every school will be connected to the internet, every teacher will have the chance to receive training, and in the next few years every child should be able to leave school IT literate. They are huge advances for our country.
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