The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

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  • Mr Major’s Briefing en route to Tokyo – 18 September 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s on the record briefing on the plane to Tokyo on Saturday 18th September 1993.

    MICHAEL PERRY (UNILEVER):

    We have a good team of businessmen in this group as you have seen and that in itself is unaccidental; what it describes most fundamentally is the value we place on a visit of this nature in the company of the Prime Minister at this sort of time. This is a time of enormous change in Japan, as you will be aware, a new government, new thinking, massive economic problems, new kinds of problems for them, a determination to drive through improvements and changes in their own balance of trade and payment patterns, recognition of the serious problems they have got in dealing with their trading partners and Britain over the last five or six years has been seeking to achieve progress in this area through rather different means from our American friends; we sought to persuade them about our role as their best friends in Europe in terms of inward investment and looking to build partnerships within Japan.

    What has happened is that most of the formal barriers of trade have now disappeared; there are one or two issues still around but they are really quite minor; they are matters such as whisky, leather, shoes. What is much more important is the Japanese propensity to buy foreign. This is cultural, it is historical, they are not used to the idea of putting their business in the hands of foreign companies. This is much more down to us to solve than down to governments to solve. Governments can pave the way but we have got to do it. There is a massive problem of convincing Japanese buyers that they can rely on the quality, supply and all the other issues that they think are important in a foreign company so that is a new area of focus and it is very much what the export promotion programme for the DTI by the British Overseas Trade Board has been about. This visit ought to give new impetus to that coming as it does right behind the new Hosokawa package which focuses very much on getting the Japanese consumer to have some of the benefits of the high yen. They are not doing it at the moment; margins are still high, the cost of imported products is absurdly high and there are still plenty of restrictive practices around in the retail and wholesale trade and it is nice, I think, to see the growth of some of the discounters who are now emerging in Japan who are sticking a knife into the soft underbelly of a rather fat distribution system and they are getting a lot of encouragement which is important.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Let me just add a word or two from my perspective:

    This is overwhelmingly though not exclusively a trade-related trip. The trade relationship we have with Japan has grown very dramatically; all of you will be familiar with the inward investment we have seen in the North-East, in Wales and elsewhere but I think the time has come when we need to give that trading relationship a fresh emphasis and a fresh push and there are a variety of reasons why now is a good time to do that: the new Hosokawa Government is one, I will be the first overseas visitor, I think, that he has received; the fact that the Japanese are becoming increasingly concerned about the scale of their trade surplus, as others are, renders it another ideal opportunity for us to push the case for British exports and for British investment.

    There are a number of particular matters that clearly one will raise when we are there. I shall raise the GATT Round and the importance of making sure we get a satisfactory settlement there; there are still some Japanese problems on GATT that need to be solved. There are a series of other matters that you would he extremely surprised if I didn’t raise; I need not run through a long list of them but whisky springs immediately to mind. On the last visit I had to Tokyo eight or nine weeks ago, the external tariffs on whisky disappeared but there still is a very discriminatory internal tariff on whisky – you can argue whether it is three times as high or ten times as high but there is no doubt that on whisky in particular and spirits there is a very high discriminatory internal tariff and that is the sort of matter I will be discussing with them.

    We certainly want to see what we can do to close the very substantial trade gap; it is something like £5 billion. I think there is ample scope for us to see that close.

    We have on this trip as high-powered a delegation of senior British businessmen as I think can ever have left the United Kingdom together; they will not be novitiates in Japan; many of them will have had a relationship for a long time and they will be there to develop longer-term themes. Whereas in India we were looking at the prospects of a series of contracts that we might or might not have got in the very short-term – as it happened on the Indian trip we did get them – here we are looking at a longer-term perspective rather than short-term contracts so on the business front that is the sort of thing we will be discussing.

    There will be a meeting with the Kaidonran [phonetic] for the businessmen and I, and I hope that will be a successful meeting. I have a fairly lengthy meeting with the Prime Minister and all the businessmen will join me afterwards and we hope this will play some part in opening a few doors and speeding up some decisions.

    On other matters, there are some bilateral matters and there will be some political matters we wish to discuss. We will certainly discuss the question of the prisoners of war issue but I don’t propose to go into details of that at this moment but there are a range of bilateral issues like that.

     

    QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    QUESTION (Gordon Grieg, Daily Mail):

    Do you think that the controversy in the Conservative Party about your leadership tends to undermine the importance of a trip like this?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    No, I don’t and I very much doubt that Mr. Hosokawa and I will give it a passing thought.

    QUESTION (Gordon Grieg, Daily Mail):

    But the Japanese press might!

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I can’t answer for the press.

    QUESTION (Gordon Grieg, Daily Mail):

    So you don’t think it is a diversion at all?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I am here to discuss trade and that is what I will be doing.

    QUESTION:

    Are you a little worried that this is perhaps a slightly inconvenient time for you to be abroad for so long? Some of your colleagues at Westminster are a little worried that you are going to be out of the country for a week and things are looking a bit dodgy.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I am glad you confirm they need me so much!

    QUESTION (Mark Webster, ITN):

    Do you personally favour the idea of some form of compensation for the POWs? Although I appreciate you can’t discuss it publicly, do you personally feel that some form of compensation would be appropriate?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I am going to discuss the matter in a way I think is most appropriate and that is to express views directly to the Prime Minister.

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Perry, British trade delegations have been coming to Japan for about the last thirty years and it has made no appreciable impact on the balance of trade. They seem to have a great tradition of buying Japanese. What makes you think you are going to change anything?

    1. PERRY:

    Of course that is right but there has been a great deal of movement. When I started doing this sort of thing about ten years ago we were talking all the time about trade disputes, about massive problems of access, built-on tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers, quotas, every kind of impediment. They have in the course of a decade been quite literally swept away.

    What has happened is that our exports to Japan have gone up in a three-to–four-year period by 18%, the first half of this year up another 13%. I think we have got to build on positions of that kind.

    The point you are making is a very fair one. We will not succeed by browbeating either Japanese officials or Japanese customers. If you are a customer, you are not going to succumb to being browbeaten by a supplier; you are going to be persuaded by a supplier eventually on a set of criteria that you will set, nobody else.

    QUESTION:

    But isn’t that the Japanese method, browbeating?

    1. PERRY:

    I don’t think so. I have been doing trade there for a long time. I have encountered no real barriers to selling superior products.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Can I just add one word to that last point? I forget which of the businessmen said it to me last night but I think it is germane and I suspect Michael will strongly agree with it. It is quite difficult to get into the Japanese market in the first place; it takes a long time; you don’t just make one visit and they sign up huge contracts but as he put it to me, the more you get into the Japanese market the easier it is to do further business and there is a very dramatic growth in the business. It is very much a long-run game and I think this is part of accelerating that. I hope it will help to show how strongly the Government is behind the British export effort and the British investment effort hut it isn’t something that one expects suddenly to happen overnight and dramatically but the growth in exports over the last few years has been pretty astonishing. Michael quoted a three-year figure; I think it is just over 14% in the last fifteen months or so it is on an escalating trend and I hope we can give it another push because they are keen to import, I am keen to encourage them to provide import incentives and to remove any cultural discrimination that there may be – in the case of things like whisky, taxation discrimination.

    QUESTION:

    On GATT, although there are problems with the Japanese, is there anything of a magnitude that could derail the whole Uruguay Round as compared with the problems between America and the EC which clearly could?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I think it is most unlikely. There are a series of problems with Japan, rice is the most obvious one but there are others as well but I would be astounded if it were a Japanese problem that brought the GATT Round to an unsuccessful conclusion, absolutely astounded. I think at the moment the Japanese are waiting to see what happens in the disputes over Blair House and on agriculture and on one or two other high-tariff problems between the United States and Europe but once that is out of the way, although there are some quite painful decisions – rice is the most painful – I don’t have any doubt at all that the Japanese would reach a conclusion and that they would not block a GATT Round.

    QUESTION:

    I just wanted to go back to the question of your leadership, Prime Minister. You were quoted recently as saying that you would leave your job when we least expected it and some of your critics inside the party have been suggesting that that could be quite soon. Can you give us a pledge that you will not be leaving quite soon, that you will be staying on until the next election?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I think you misread what was said but I think you can expect to be having conversations like this with me for quite a long time ahead. I look forward to them very much.

  • Mr Major’s Doorstep Interview in Tokyo – 18 September 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s doorstep interview in Tokyo, held on Saturday 18th September 1993.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister, can I ask you what you make of all this talk about the leadership issue?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    We have heard all this in the past. I think there are one or two mavericks who raise the issue from time to time. It is frankly a non-issue.

    QUESTION:

    Do you think it undermines the purpose of your visit here?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    No, I don’t think it undermines the purpose of the visit. The purpose here is political and the purpose is economic. There are huge opportunities for a much greater trade relationship with Japan, huge opportunities for British exports, huge opportunities for investment by Britain in Japan in the United Kingdom where many jobs have been created already.

    QUESTION:

    Some of your critics say that this is not the time for you to be out of the country and that you should be concentrating on domestic issues and reasserting your leadership.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I would have thought that actually expanding British prosperity, expanding British trade, expanding the opportunities of British jobs, expanding the opportunity of British growth was very much in the British interest and that is what I am here to do.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Doorstep Interview with Prime Minister Keating – 17 September 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint doorstep interview with Prime Minister Keating, held in London on Friday 17th September 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    The Prime Minister and I have had the opportunity in a period before lunch and over lunch to range over a whole range of matters. I will invite the Prime Minister to say a few words, I will perhaps add anything that may still be overhanging and then we will take a few questions.

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    The Prime Minister and I have had a very cordial discussion both before and during lunch. It ranged over a number of topics including substantially on the Uruguay Round both I think underlining the importance of the Round to growth and to employment, both of the belief I think that the December 15 deadline is a real deadline and that now is the time to draw the Round to a successful conclusion by the maintenance of the Blair House Accords and with other adjustments a conclusion of the Round. I think we both see that as an important backdrop to world trade and see it as evidence of the fact that the international interest in a global multilateral trading system is still there and that seven years of effort shouldn’t go in vain so we have, I think, decided that we should speak for the conclusion of the Round and as the Chair of the Cairns Group at the moment, Australia very enthusiastically supports the Blair House Accords and a conclusion of the Round.

    The Prime Minister and I also had a discussion about our constitutional arrangements in Australia and he made the point clearly to me that this is a matter between the people of Australia, the Government of Australia and the Queen of Australia underlining a point he had made earlier that Australia and Britain have a modern relationship as two societies to one another, that we are doing more together now than we were even doing ten years ago, that we are a substantial investor in each other’s countries, that for Australians Britain is a platform for investment into Europe and for Britons Australia is a platform for investment into Asia and that we are doing work much more bilaterally than we have ever done and that our relationship is maturing and succeeding as we contemplate difficulties between us including of course our respective trading environments, ours the Asia-Pacific, Britain’s the European Community.

    Could I conclude that resume by saying that we had again a cordial discussion agreeing on these points of substance which I think are important to both Britain and Australia.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I don’t think there is a great deal to add to that, just perhaps a few points of emphasis to add.

    We spent some time on the British/Australian bilateral relationship. I think it is as good today as it has been for very many years. The trade relationship in particular is growing both in terms of investment between the two countries and the trade flow between the two countries. We both see considerable opportunities for that to continue to increase and we will both do what we can to ensure that has the maximum support.

    The points the Prime Minister made about the Uruguay Round I think are immensely important. I share his view entirely that the December 15 deadline is a deadline we should take very seriously. I know we have heard this before, that there is going to be a deadline on the Uruguay Round and then it has gone on beyond that. I think it would be extremely unwise to assume that that will happen on this occasion and the prize for the world of a satisfactory Uruguay Round settlement is very great but equally, the cost to the world of not having a Uruguay Round settlement would be very great as well and I hope that is a point that is fully understood amongst all the countries that participate in these particular discussions.

    As the Prime Minister said, we discussed the constitutional issue. I don’t propose to add to what he said. It is a matter for the Queen of Australia and the Australian Prime Minister and his Ministers and I am going to have nothing further to add about that today.

    Rather than reiterate the points the Prime Minister made, I would just like to take a few questions from you and we will both answer them or one of us, as you wish.

    QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Major, do you think that on the people-to-people level the republican debate in Australia could in fact harm relations between our countries?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think, as I said a moment ago, the constitutional point is a point for the Queen and for the Australian Government.

    As far as the people-to-people relationship is concerned, I think that runs very deep; it runs very deep and has run very deep for a very long time and I think it is necessary to see the two separate questions, the constitutional question between Australian Ministers and the Queen of Australia and the bilateral, commercial and other relationships between Australia and the United Kingdom; that has been strong, is strong and is going in my judgement to continue to be strong.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Keating, Australia House said you had recourse to the British public in your view that Australia should be a republic? On what did you base that?

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    I think this is one of the world’s great democracies and if a nation state deliberately and coherently decides democratically to adopt a different set of constitutional arrangements that will obviously be approved of within a democracy such as Britain; an essentially democratic act will always I think have the support of a democratic people and so i don’t think it is a matter of trying to put a dipstick into British opinions but rather look at Britain’s long-run respect for democratic procedures and processes.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister, do you see no impediment to Australia taking on republic status?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    As I indicated a moment ago, that constitutionally and I think in practical terms as well is a matter these days that has to be a matter between the Queen who is Queen of Australia and her Australian Ministers – she has Ministers in Australia just as she has Ministers here – and she will take their constitutional advice. I think constitutionally it is proper for that matter to be determined between the Queen and her Australian Ministers.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Keating, what is your schedule of events for arriving at this new constitution for turning Australia into a republic?

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    That will require a scheduling obviously of a constitutional process leading up to a referendum by the Australian people. The target we have is for 2001 but that will require, as any such important constitutional change requires, a period of education and understanding and consensus and we have already embarked on that process now.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Keating, what you are suggesting and what your referendum may or may not lead to is of course of immense historical significance. What you are really going to do or your country may decide to do is the final break-up of the greatest empire this country has ever seen, this world has ever seen [Laughter] and are you historically aware of what you are doing and that this may have a knock-on effect, New Zealand may do it and other members of the British Commonwealth too? You are the catalyst of history, Mr. Keating.

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    Well you are the source of much mirth by your colleague journalists behind you! I don’t think you can ascribe that catalytic role to me. The key policy is between the Australian people and the Queen of Australia. The relationship we are speaking of and the one which you are seeking for us to nurture is the one between Britain and Australia and as the Prime Minister said today and said again eloquently on Australia Day in the address which he gave, there is great depth in the relationship between Australia and Great Britain and it is growing and if anything such a change will lead to an even better relationship as Australia remains part of the Commonwealth but where our friendship and links can be fully expressed rather than being compromised by a constitutional arrangement which doesn’t meet the approval of the great majority of the Australian people.

    QUESTION:

    It was you that kicked it off though. You are the one who started it.

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    I don’t think that is true. I think it is called national aspirations and national identity.

    QUESTION:

    On another subject, were you concerned by the success of the British National Party last night?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    Yes, I was. I think it was an unfortunate result. I just want to make it quite clear there is no place in our society for those sort of policies and I hope that will be readily understood by everyone. I gather at least one of the political parties is looking at their literature – I think that is right. I have no comments to make about that other than to say I think it was an unfortunate result, I hope it won’t be repeated.

    QUESTION:

    From what you said, is it fair to assume then that the British Government has no view on whether Australia decides to become a republic when you say that it is a matter purely for the Australian Queen, the Australian people and Government?

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    I think the Prime Minister has made clear to you his view that the appropriate policy here is between the Australian people, its Government and the Queen of Australia and that is a matter to be worked out through the processes of Australia by its people and its Government with the Queen of Australia.

    QUESTION:

    ….the Queen …Australia tomorrow?

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    I think as warm as friendly as the last one she gave me when I saw her last.

    QUESTION:

    Would you care to have a wager about the outcome of the IOC next week?

    PRIME MINISTER KEATING:

    We do have an interest in it, both of us. I am sure I can’t say anything beyond that which would be entirely predictable and that is that we think Sydney is by far the best technical bid; no doubt that will be disputed by the Prime Minister.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I am looking forward to seeing the Prime Minister in Monte Carlo and buying him a consolation drink.

  • Mr Major’s Article on State of the Country – 9 September 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s article on the state of the country, issued on 9th September 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I can’t pretend the past year has been easy. But the difficult decisions we took were necessary. Our difficulties have been well chronicled. But our steady progress in so many policies – less dramatic perhaps but vital – has often been overlooked.

    So it is worth setting out what has also been happening away from all the fuss and palaver of Westminster.

    Who would have predicted that we’d be able to bring down inflation to below 1 1/2 per cent for the first time in over 30 years?

    Who would have predicted we could bring interest rates down to 6 per cent?

    Who expected that exports would rise to record levels and that unemployment would have fallen in the first five months of this year?

    Who forecast that it would be Britain – not Germany or France which would lead the way out of recession in Europe?

    Who imagined that growth this year and next year in Britain is likely to be higher than anywhere else in Europe?

    No one did. Yet these are the facts.

    And that is not all. Away from economic matters much else has been happening. Quietly but surely we have carried forward reforms in our major public services -shifting their focus to the consumer – to you, the public – not the vested interests which deliver them.

    A few examples will suffice: more patients treated in NHS hospitals last year compared with the year before – itself a record year. New guarantees for patients on waiting times and fixed appointment times.

    In education we’ve seen a steady increase in parent power. Nearly a thousand more schools voting to run their own affairs. All schools now having their own budgets. And parents getting annual reports on their childrens’ progress and more information on schools GCSE and A levels results. And judging by this year’s results there are already signs of some improvement in standards.

    Under the Citizen’s Charter we are seeking – and are beginning to get – improved standards across a whole range of public services. The Council Tax has been introduced successfully, despite all the dire predictions; trades union reform taken a step further with new rights for workers to ballot before strike action and join the union for their choice.

    The sort of country I want to see

    Yet people say “okay, these are details, but where are we going? What are you trying to achieve?”

    My hopes for our future are built around the four simple principles we set out at the election: choice, opportunity, responsibility, and ownership.

    People want more control over their lives. That means they want more choice, more opportunities, more people owning their own homes and shares and building up wealth. It also means taking more responsibility for the consequences of their choices. And more responsibility for their own actions and those of their children. In other words, not forever looking first to the State or the social worker to solve their problems.

    I want to develop these policies because I believe they reflect people’s aspirations.

    Everywhere people want jobs for themselves and for their children. They want to be independent. They want to choose schools, holidays, where they live, how they live. They don’t want others telling them what to do. They want better prospects for their children: good schools, good hospitals. They want security in their old age, and they want a more courteous and a safer society; one in which the law is respected and crime is punished.

    People have always had ambitions like these. But, too often, I have seen people whose ambitions were frustrated, not through any fault of their own, but because they were denied opportunities. They were denied opportunities by a new form of snobbery, all the worse because it cloaked itself in the language of “progressive” social conscience: “We know best, so you’ll do as we say, not as you choose”.

    I want to change that attitude. I want opportunity for all based on a free market. And I want a country which feels a sense of continuity with its past and a sense of responsibility for its future. Without that we will never have a country at ease with itself. And I intend to fight for it whatever the difficulties and whatever the opposition.

    Sustaining the recovery

    These are “social” goals. But all social policy begins with economic policy. We can’t spend what we haven’t earned. There are three touchstones: low inflation; sound public finances and sustained recovery based on competitiveness at home and abroad.

    First inflation. We have brought it down and we intend to keep it down. It does immense damage: to businesses, to jobs, to people on fixed incomes and people with savings. Pensioners especially. It is public enemy number one. So don’t expect me to listen to those who say a little bit of inflation can do you good. It can’t.

    Second public finances: the fact is we are living beyond our means and consuming at the expense of our children. We will stick to our manifesto pledges on pensions and other benefits.

    But we need to look at the long term difficulties in funding social expenditure – now outstripping inflation by some 3 per cent per year. That can’t go on. We need to decide now how to create the resources to care for the vulnerable, the sick and the elderly in the future. We need to reduce Government borrowing and control government spending across the board.

    We are not alone in facing this challenge. Countries like Germany, France, Holland, Belgium and Italy have similar problems. Difficult decisions are being made everywhere. Britain cannot be the exception. For the sake of jobs and prosperity in the future, we must make the right choices now.

    The need for competitiveness

    That is vital if we are to achieve the third goal: sustained recovery based on competitiveness.

    There are no easy markets any more. We have no Empire that will automatically buy British. We have to compete fair and square, not just with Europe and America, but with the emerging economies of the Far East and the Pacific Rim – Eastern Europe too. We can’t shut them out.

    That means we have got to be competitive in manufacturing. Two-thirds of all we earn abroad comes from things we make and sell.

    The 1980s saw a turn around in British manufacturing. No one talks of “the British disease” any more. Manufacturing output is growing faster than for 5 years. Productivity is growing faster than for 7 years. Unit wage costs are falling faster than at any time since records began. Yet even so we still lag behind some of our main competitors.

    The vital need to improve education and training

    Above all it is vital that we produce enough people with the necessary education and skills. Too many managers tell me that far too many young people come out of British schools unable to read or write properly, lacking self discipline and commitment.

    The cost to British industry of poor basic skills is estimated to be £5 billion a year.

    For far too long a small minority of so-called progressive educationalists have made the running in education. They mock the importance of getting children to learn the basics: spelling, grammar, tables, self-discipline. This attitude is damaging to our children and to our country.

    So while we are working to simplify the curriculum and cut out unnecessary paperwork for teachers, we are not going back on the basic principles of our education reforms. Attention to basics in the curriculum. More emphasis on vocational training and experience as well as academic training. Regular testing and information for parents. And improvement in teacher training.

    Helping industry win new markets

    But that is not all we are doing to make Britain more competitive.

    We are giving more help to our exporters. They now have better terms of credit so that they can sell more easily abroad. We’ve stepped up our export promotion efforts both at home, on trade missions, and in our embassies abroad.

    We are giving greater emphasis to innovation. As early as the last century people were complaining that we did not use British scientific expertise to good effect in British industry. Our new science policy aims to ensure we exploit the practical application of British science in Britain.

    We are providing more opportunities for private industry to work with the public sector. Who built the roads and railways hospitals and schools in the first place? Answer: the private sector with private finance. What they did once, they can do again in partnership with Government.

    And in the coming year we will be cutting through the red tape jungle to help businesses concentrate on the job they are there to do. Regulation is sometimes a necessary evil. It’s those unnecessary twiddles, petty rules, forms and fussy details we need to cut out.

    Tackling crime

    Right at the top of our agenda for the coming year is the need to tackle the growing problem of crime.

    I start with three propositions. First there should be no excuses for crime. Crime is the responsibility of the individual who commits it.

    Second, crime needs to be punished. It is criminals who should be afraid, not the public.

    Third, all of us need to be involved in the war against crime. We need to be involved as parents, teachers and ordinary citizens; teaching our children the difference between right and wrong. Helping to prevent crime in the area in which we live. Helping the police and courts to catch and punish the guilty. They cannot do their job without the help of the public.

    This year we have introduced tougher sentences for drunk driving, joy riders and for people who offend while on bail. The courts can now take previous convictions into account. And we have reformed unit fines.

    Next year we will be taking action to deal with squatters and new age travellers – two new scourges of the modern age. And we’ll be giving the courts new powers to place persistent young offenders in secure accommodation.

    And we will be examining further ways of making our police and courts more effective as we review two of the most fundamental reports into our police and criminal justice system for years: the Sheehy report into the police and the report of the Royal Commission on criminal justice.

    Priorities for the ’90s

    Basic to our approach in the 1990s will be the need to shift priorities away from short term consumption to long term wealth creation. Ours is a proud country. The oldest democracy. The most stable and still one of the most peaceful societies in the world.

    But we cannot rest on our laurels. If we want to preserve all those things we cherish, we have got to put the need for enterprise and the prime importance of manufacturing success right at the centre of our thinking. Industry should be the first choice not the last choice of our best people. We need to encourage and reward success and talent, not hold it back. We need to take responsibilities ourselves, not wait for others to come to the rescue.

    If we can do all these things, then we will enter the 21st century an increasingly confident and prosperous nation, keeping our place as an influential voice in world affairs.

    If we do not make these changes then the fault is our own. It is our choice. Our future in our hands.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Press Conference with the Swedish Prime Minister – 13 August 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, held in Harpsund on Friday 13th August 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER CARL BILDT:

    Could I start by saying “Welcome!”. I have rarely seen such a distinguished and numerous collection of Swedish journalists this early in the morning so far away from Stockholm! Let me also say thanks to John and Norma Major for coming here and for making it possible to have such a nice and such a fruitful visit as I think we have had.

    We have now concluded a couple of days of formal as well as informal discussions covering a rather wide range of topics. We have discussed quite extensively of course the situation in former Yugoslavia and the joint initiative that we took the day before yesterday is now from our side well under way. We are ready to go into Sarajevo at more or less a moment’s notice and we are now awaiting clearance from the UNHCR. I think the Swedish Air Force aircraft is ready at Ancona and I believe the same to be the case on the British side. It has been working can I say on the Swedish side very smoothly. I am impressed by what has been done by all of the relevant Swedish authorities at such short notice.

    We also discussed developments in the process of European integration including the enlargement negotiations. We are united I think or share the same views on the need for a larger, more open, less intrusive Community in the future.

    We also discussed the situation in the Baltic countries where we have issued this morning a joint statement which I guess you have seen and the highlight of that is of course that we are concerned by recent strains that we have seen in Baltic-Russian relations and we call upon all sides to deepen the political dialogue and work towards a settlement of the outstanding disputes; in particular, we ask Russia to fulfil without further delay its commitment under the CSE Helsinki Final Act to withdraw the remaining troops from the Baltic States – this must be done without linkage to other issues. We also urge Estonia and Latvia to continue to build upon the recommendations by the CSE and by the Council of Europe when it comes to developing good Community relations with the non-Estonians in Estonia and with the non-Latvians in Latvia. We also express our joint will and eagerness indeed to continue to help them in the building of true independence and in the development of good relations with the Russians. I would guess that this is also going to be a topic for the discussion that. I am going to have here tomorrow with the Foreign Minister of Russia, Mr. Kosyrev.

    Let me just say it has been a very useful visit. We have, think, an outstanding bilateral relationship. If there has been one difficulty during this visit it has been how hard it is to improve upon a relationship that is already so good but we have tried and I think we have achieved some amount of success and I think that is symbolised both by the joint initiative we took on Sarajevo at the beginning of the visit and on the joint statement on the Baltics that we have done now as the visit comes to its end.

    PRIME MINISTER JOHN MAJOR:

    Let me first thank Carl and Mia for their hospitality in Sweden; it has been not only a very worthwhile but a very enjoyable couple of days as well. Some time ago, Carl accepted an invitation to attend the Conservative Party Conference in October and I will look forward to welcoming him there in due course.

    I won’t reiterate all the points that have been made thus far except simply to say that I endorse them. If I could say just a word firstly about the joint initiative on Sarajevo, we were both responding to the High Commissioner for Refugees’ plea for help for 41 seriously injured patients. That operation, both on the Swedish side and on the United Kingdom side, is now well under way, The British medical teams have now been assembled and I expect they will be flying out from Stansted to Ancona at around 4 o’clock this afternoon; they will then he in a position to transport the patients to Britain just as soon as they are ready to travel and that, of course, is a matter that is under way locally in Sarajevo. At the moment, the High Commissioner for Refugees is still assembling details both of the adult and of the child patients that they wish us to receive. I should say that the Overseas Development Association plane will also be taking out a substantial stock of antibiotics, anaesthetics and other urgently-needed drugs for the hospitals in Sarajevo.

    Let me make a further point about this as well. This is by no means the end of the operation. If needed, there will be a second plane standing by to bring out more patients when the United Nations staff have fully identified those and their relatives; this may take a little longer than originally envisaged and if that is the case there will be a second plane standing by to help.

    I should also make clear that the Overseas Development Association Senior Medical Assessor is currently in Zagreb but he will be in Sarajevo on Monday and will provide advice to us on what further supplies and arrangements are needed and if further medical supplies are needed, we will examine what we can do immediately to help in arranging for them to be provided.

    The Prime Minister spoke of the other discussions we have had during the last couple of days; just a brief word on those, if I may.

    Firstly, on European matters, as the Prime Minister made clear yesterday, we share the same vision of a larger, more open and less intrusive Community. We want that larger Community because it extends the area where trade will bind nations more closely together. We want that more open Community because that will mean more jobs and more prosperity for all the people within the Community. One-quarter of Britain’s and Sweden’s income comes from exports. Both Swedish entry and that of all the EFTAn countries will in my judgement help bias the Community in the future towards more openness and more free trade and I think that bias would be very welcome.

    I had the opportunity yesterday morning over breakfast of meeting a very impressive group of Swedish businessmen; it was a private meeting but a very worthwhile one. There were a number of messages I took from that meeting but I think the most important one was their complete conviction about the vital importance of concluding the Uruguay Round, the trade negotiations, by the end of this year. That, as you know, is a view that I very strongly share and it is my view and I think the Prime Minister’s view as well that that should be one of the Community’s highest priorities in the next few months.

    We have both spoken of a less intrusive Community. I think when the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty are in place we will be able to put more flesh on the bones of that dreadful word “subsidiarity”. That I think will be extremely helpful for everyone.

    We have discussed a range of other matters, the Baltic States, the position in Russia, a number of bilateral matters as well. I won’t reiterate all the points that have already been made but would conclude on this point about Sweden’s negotiations to enter the European Community: I believe it is in Sweden’s interest to enter but I also believe it is in the Community’s interest that Sweden should enter and I very much hope those negotiations will he satisfactorily completed and everything else satisfactorily concluded for Sweden to join the Community on 1 January 1995.

    QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Prime Minister, which stumbling blocks can you see ahead in these negotiations for Sweden in Brussels?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think that is a matter for the negotiators rather than me. There are always, in negotiations like this, a large number of difficult matters that need to be determined. You have of course twelve nations already members anxious to protect their national interests and Sweden quite properly will wish to protect their own vital interests when they join the Community so some of those negotiations will be quite tough, budgetary contribution clearly is one but there are a series of matters I think that are very familiar to people in Sweden. I believe all of them are capable of a solution. Negotiations will be hard but then they always are hard on occasions like this but I see no reason to suppose they can’t be satisfactorily concluded.

    QUESTION:

    What are the delays in putting the aircraft into Sarajevo to collect the injured people? Is it UN red tape?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No. The delay is assembling the patients in Sarajevo and making sure they are medically ready to travel and in the case of some of them where they need relatives to travel with them, that the arrangements can be made for the relatives to travel as well. It is a logistic difficulty. There are a great many logistics to overcome in Sarajevo to get the patients together. That is the only cause of delay.

    In terms of the availability of the aircraft and medical equipment, as both the Prime Minister and I have said, both on the Swedish side and on the British side that will be ready very speedily.

    QUESTION:

    When do you expect the injured people to arrive in Sweden and arrive in London?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I can’t be absolutely certain about that. I hope over the weekend but I will know more about that later today I hope.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister, this statement on the Baltic States, does that reflect a fear that if the different Baltic States don’t handle relations with their Russian minorities in a sensible and democratic way you could end up with another Bosnia just over the water from Sweden?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No, I don’t think that we believe that that is likely. What does concern us is the desirability of the Russians meeting their commitment to remove their troops out of the Baltic States as speedily and as comprehensively as possible and secondly, of course, of ensuring that the Russian citizens who will continue to live in the Baltic States are treated fairly. We know there are tensions, we know there are difficulties; what we are saying is that those need to be seriously addressed and overcome very speedily.

    QUESTION:

    You don’t see it as a tinder-box?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No, I don’t see it as that sort of tinder-box, no.

    QUESTION:

    Do you think it is realistic for Sweden’s negotiations to be concluded by 1 January 1995?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I do indeed. I don’t see that a longer timetable would be likely to lead to a more satisfactory conclusion. My experience of the Community over the last few years is that the best way to get an outcome is to set a deadline and I think that probably applies to other organisations as well as the Community. I am quite certain it is a realistic proposition to negotiate within that time frame and that is the view of the Community as a whole and I believe it is the view of the Swedish negotiators and the Swedish government as well.

    QUESTION:

    You both said you shared the vision of a more open Europe, a more open Community. I would like to ask Prime Minister Major when will Britain abolish border controls or will you ever?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We are talking about trade when we are talking about an open Community. We have special arrangements on border controls; an island is different and I think that is generally recognised. We are talking about the desirability of open trade and I think in terms of the prosperity and growth of Europe that is very important; it is one of the reasons of course that the conclusion of the world trade talks is so very important for Europe. Europe tends to concentrate a great deal on the agricultural aspect of those trade talks but of course what is often overlooked as people do that is the very great importance to Europe of the industrial and commercial agreements that have already been reached in the Uruguay Round; they are vitally important to the future prosperity of Europe.

    It is also important I think for the general development of free trade in Europe for two reasons: firstly, the jobs and prosperity point that I made a moment ago but secondly – a quite different point and perhaps a moral point in a sense – most of the European nations are relatively generous with overseas aid to less-developed and very underdeveloped countries. I think that is right and they should be but it is an oddity that on the one hand Europe is providing aid to those countries and on the other hand Europe seems to be closing its markets to exports from those countries which would leave them for ever dependent upon overseas aid. That is a second reason why there is a great imperative to open markets and free trade.

    QUESTION (SAME LADY):

    But does that mean that the Fourth Freedom – freedom for people – doesn’t apply for Britain?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No, it doesn’t mean that at all.

    QUESTION:

    Do you accept with regard to what you said about the Baltic States that they, the Russians, have a very practical problem in providing accommodation for the troops that you want withdrawn?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think they have referred to that practical problem; I think there is some reason to believe there is a practical problem there. What we are saying is that it needs to be addressed and we think there can be movement on both sides, certainly assurances as to Russian minorities in the Baltic State and perhaps the Russians looking more expeditiously at removing their troops from the three states as well.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    The practical problem, if I might add, is a rather limited one. If you see that in relation to the movement that is there of different military units around in Russia and from, say, Western Europe or from Central Asia or in and out of the Caucasus, the need to provide accommodation for the remaining troops coming out of the Baltic countries is a very very small portion so all of the practical problems there tends to be a tendency in certain Russian quarters to use that as an excuse and I don’t think that is acceptable.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Major, you said you and Prime Minister Bildt share the vision of an open, larger and less intrusive Community but Britain has made exceptions from the Maastricht Treaty on the social dimension so don’t you share the vision of the inner organisation of the Community?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think you need to understand why I refused to accept the provisions of the Social Chapter. What is the greatest problem facing the whole of Western Europe at the moment? I guess most people faced with that question would say it is the need to provide jobs through growth and to increase prosperity. What we do see over the past: twenty years – and I think this illustrates the point very clearly – is that the amount of growth in Western Europe as a whole and the United States as a whole has been broadly the same but how many jobs has that created? In the United States, the same amount of growth has created four times as many extra jobs as have been created in the European Community. Why is that? The answer predominantly is the social on-costs of one sort or another that prevail in the European Community. It is not sensible to the people who are unemployed and who want jobs to introduce new provisions that will make it more difficult for them to get employment in the future.

    That was the case, it is the case and that is why I have consistently opposed the provisions of the Social Chapter and still do.

    QUESTION:

    Have you been discussing the future of the European Monetary Union and what could be done to solve the problem?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    Well we only had two days! Others have tried for longer. We discussed present difficulties but we didn’t on this occasion advance specific solutions. It may be necessary to take some time to pause and reflect.

    QUESTION:

    As two Prime Ministers who both have floating currencies, do you conceive a situation where we might have to go back to, say, having the Gold Standard or some way of bringing order to the fold to increase the power of governments individually and collectively against the problems caused by all this huge amount of money which can be moved around by large investors and speculators and so on?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    That is not a matter we discussed over the last couple of days. Clearly we have to reflect upon what has happened to the Exchange Rate Mechanism. I said after Sterling left the Exchange Rate Mechanism last September that I thought there were fault-lines in the system. Many people at that stage said: “We don’t think there are fault lines in the system, it is a particular problem with Sterling!” Well now of course it is clear to everyone that there are fault-lines in the system and it was not simply a problem with Sterling. Now we need to examine what, if anything, may be done to deal with those fault-lines.

    What is certainly true from the point of view of business is that stability of exchange rates, whether through successful economic management in a floating situation or through some form of management of rates, is something that business cherishes and helps the movement of goods and trade so I think the politicians must examine how best to achieve that but I don’t think I have a snap judgement to offer you on that this morning.

    SAME MAN:

    What about the Gold Standard?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No, I don’t think that is likely.

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Major, you recently revived your proposal for a hard ECU alongside the existing currencies. Did you discuss that question and if so, what is the Swedish opinion of it?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    No, we didn’t discuss the hard Ecu and I read with some interest that I revived the suggestion. I think every country is actually looking at what series of options may exist in the future. I haven’t placed the hard Ecu back in the middle of the European debate again; it is in the European debate, it was put there some time ago but I haven’t especially floated it again; I read with some interest that I had but I haven’t.

    QUESTION:

    Do you think that Great Britain is moving towards a faster economic recovery right now?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    Yes. I think we are moving towards recovery. Recoveries are always patchy. You get a series of statistics that are extremely good, then occasionally you get some that are less good and think that will be the pattern of the United Kingdom recovery as well.

    Over the past five months or so, the overwhelming volume of statistics have been pointing in the direction of recovery and growth of some significant size this year but rather larger next year. That seems to be the position. It is bound to be patchy. I think it is patchy but I think there is no doubt whatsoever that the United Kingdom economy is now back on the road to growth.

    QUESTION:

    Do you think that Carl Bildt should learn anything from your way of handling the financial problems?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    You had better ask Carl that!

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    You have to draw on the experience of all different countries. You can’t really compare the economy of one country with the economy of another country totally but I think it is very clear when you look at the figures coming out of. the British economy that among the European economies the British one is the one that clearly is in some sort of recovery and I think that is encouraging not only from the British perspective but also from the wider European perspective because we clearly need some countries to recover from the economic problems that they are having now.

    We are starting to see the same signs in Sweden although we are behind. We see industrial production picking up, we see orders coming into industry. When I talk to leaders of industry now after the summer, after the vacation, when they see what is happening in the markets they are fairly encouraged with the interest rate coming down so I think that we will see Sweden developing into recovery along the lines of Britain but we are somewhat behind no doubt.

    QUESTION:

    Have you been discussing any kind of European strategy when it comes to solving the unemployment situation?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    The European Community discussed that at some length at Copenhagen and we are submitting proposals towards growth and how to deal with the particular present problems of Europe for a White Paper that the Community will produce later on this year. Britain is submitting her own proposals, other countries will be doing the same and I hope we will be able to discuss that in detail at the Brussels summit in December.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    In addition to that, we are going to have a meeting of the Nordic Finance Ministers and the Nordic Prime Ministers to see what we can do from the Nordic side to join with the European initiatives that are necessary. I think it is very obvious that the economic problems that we are having throughout Europe and primarily the problems that we are having with growth and long-term employment need also European solutions. We can’t just act as nations individually; we have to pool efforts and develop joint policies and that will have to be done within the framework of the Community but not the side of the Nordic nations we are going to try to do whatever we can to join in.

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Prime Minister, you are also a Conservative Tory Party leader. Your Parliamentary group in the European Parliament has joined the Christian Democratic parliamentary group. How do you see this merger, and do you also consider your Tory Party both as a Conservative and a Christian Democratic party?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    My party in the United Kingdom is a Conservative Party and remains a Conservative Party.

    As far as the European Community is concerned, I very much wish to see a right-of-centre European Parliament rather than a left-of-centre European Parliament and all the right-of-centre parties have joined together in a loosely-knit arrangement but it is a loosely-knit arrangement, not a marriage; it doesn’t imply complete uniformity of every aspect of policy and it doesn’t imply uniformity in any other respect as well but certainly there is a great deal of common ground between the parties and to that extent they have this loose arrangement and the Conservative members of the European Parliament have joined their other right-wing colleagues.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    But I don’t think it is proper to say that it a purely Christian Democratic political grouping because it does include parties coming from different political traditions; they are somewhat different in the Nordic countries, in Britain, in Germany, in France. Take a country like Greece, it comes from a different tradition but joins into the European Peoples Party so it is a grouping that brings together the major forces of the centre-right in Western Europe and as such is important but you can’t put a specific ideological label to it.

    QUESTION:

    Yet they call themselves Union of Christian Democratic Parties.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    No. That is another organisation. The Union of Christian Democratic Parties does exist and that only includes Christian Democratic parties. If you talk about the group in the European Parliament, the European Peoples Party group, it does include other parties as well that are not members of the Christian Democrats and I don’t think are seeking membership of that union either.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister Bildt, do you share Prime Minister Major’s opinion on the social dimension of the European Community and what importance does this have for Sweden?

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    I think it is important for Sweden that there is a social dimension to the Community in the sense that the Community also tries to develop policies to get growth back and employment and all of that; that is what is normally in the Swedish debate referred to a sort of social dimension. But we also think that broadly speaking welfare policies of different sorts should be national. I don’t see any reason why a lot of the social welfare policies that we have developed in Sweden – rightly or wrongly, we can have different points of view on those and there is a heated debate going on in the country – that they should be made into European policies. We should solve at the European level only the questions that can’t be solved on the national level and I think that most of the social policy issues are better dealt with at the local, regional or national level.

    QUESTION:

    What is the current state of play as you see it between the Americans and the Europeans as regards the use of military action? I think Mr. Christopher was saying the other day it is a top priority for US security to halt the advance of the Bosnian Serbs.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We reached an agreement, as you know, at the NAC a few days ago and that agreement stands, it remains the same.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Doorstep Interview with the Swedish Prime Minister – 12 August 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint doorstep interview with the Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, held in Moja on Thursday 12th August 1993.

    QUESTION:

    Could I ask both Prime Ministers, what progress is there in the plans to evacuate the injured from Sarajevo?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    Progress is being made. I think if the delay is beyond 48 hours and it may be a little – it will be in gathering the families together in Sarajevo in order that they can come out with the injured. In the case of the children in particular, I think everyone will understand it is important to have their parents with them. To carry a sick child halfway across the world to a country that speaks a different language clearly you need the parents so there may be a small delay but I don’t think very long.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    We are in constant touch with the Bosnian authorities and with UNHCR and I think we have a Swedish Air Force Hercules leaving today for the Ancona base in Italy to pick up certain equipment there and be ready and I think the British aircraft is already in the vicinity.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We have gathered together the medical team and the planes will be ready to leave soon.

    QUESTION:

    What else have you been discussing?

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    To be quite frank, we have been enjoying life and discussing the Stockholm Archipelago and that is it so far.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We return to work this evening.

    QUESTION:

    What about the Swedish application to join the European Community? Have you been discussing that and what are the views of both governments on this at the moment?

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    We have in fact been discussing that today although we had a discussion on that yesterday and we went through rather briefly some of the major items that are going to be the subject of negotiations during the autumn.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    And we had a chance to discuss it last night over dinner as well and the British Government are very keen for Sweden to join the Community. We would like to see all the Nordic nations as part of the Community. It seems to us to be incomplete without them.

    QUESTION:

    Do you share the same view of the future of the European Community?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think we both share the view that it needs to be a free-trading and open Community and wider boundaries.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    Yes and in the short remarks I made over dinner yesterday, I quoted Mr. Major’s phrase that: we wish a Community that is open, larger and less intrusive. I think that sums up a lot of what we are trying to achieve as well.

    QUESTION:

    Were you discussing the problems in the European Monetary System and do you share the same opinion about them?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I have no doubt we will get round to those this evening.

    QUESTION:

    With regard to Bosnia, the US Secretary of State seems to have stiffened his stance in talking about this as a national interest to make sure that Sarajevo is sort of saved. Are we coming closer to an air strike now do you think?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We all want to cease the hostilities not just in Sarajevo but beyond and the possibility of air strikes has existed for a considerable amount of time in support of diplomacy. The intention is to get a diplomatic settlement and of course there has always been the possibility of the use of air strikes to defend UNPROFOR troops – that has been there for a long time – United Nations troops must be protected. I think that was and is the situation.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    Not on that subject but on a related subject, I can give the news that at the government meeting this morning we decided to call in the Royal Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs, whatever that would be in English, for Tuesday next week to take the final decision on the despatch of troops, Swedish and the Nordic contingent to UNPROFOR.

    QUESTION:

    Did you discuss this question with Mr. Major? Do you wish to have the British in on this?

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    Yes, I have briefed on not only the Swedish but the Nordic plans and I had contacts yesterday evening with Prime Minister Nyrup Rasmussen of Denmark and this morning with Prime Minister Brundtland of Norway to coordinate the decision-making process as well as the final military arrangements. We also discussed the wish that we have from the Nordic side to cooperate very closely with the British forces, Canadian forces and other NATO forces that are there.

    QUESTION:

    And what is your stance on that?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We would very much welcome a Swedish contingent there. I very much hope they are there, they would be very welcome.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Press Conference with the Swedish Prime Minister – 11 August 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, held in Stockholm on Wednesday 11th August 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    We are extremely pleased to see Prime Minister Major here; it is as a matter of fact a quarter of a century since a Prime Minister of Britain paid an official visit to Sweden.

    We have now had an hour and a half of official talks covering mainly the situation in former Yugoslavia, what we jointly are trying to do there as well as different European Community matters, primarily of course the enlargement negotiations.

    We have, on the question of former Yugoslavia a desperate situation in Sarajevo and Bosnia and decided in the course of the day to take a joint initiative to bring the war victims, roughly 40 of them, out of Sarajevo, half of them children. They will be going to Britain, to Sweden, a certain number to Ireland. We are ready to start the operation with our own transport aircraft within the next 48 hours in consultation with the UNHCR in Geneva and of course the government of Bosnia.

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We spent the earlier part of our discussion, as the Prime Minister said, looking at the various problems in former Yugoslavia and the problems of enlargement in the Community; we will have the opportunity of continuing those discussions tomorrow during the day but also over a very lengthy dinner tomorrow evening so there is a great deal more to discuss bilaterally.

    As the Prime Minister said, we have agreed that it in right to have a joint initiative to help the 41 seriously injured victims in Sarajevo. These discussions have been going on for a while, they have reached fruition today. What we propose is that 20 of those victims will come to the United Kingdom, 16 of them will come to Sweden and 5 of them will go to Ireland. We would expect that they would come out within 48 hours or so. The reason for the delay is the necessity of bringing the families of the sick people together so they can accompany them to the United Kingdom – there are some logistical difficulties. I would expect that we would send an air ambulance with around 25 doctors and nurses to Ancona; from there onwards, a Hercules would go into Sarajevo with some of the medical staff, bring the victims out and then bring them on to their destinations; that is certainly what we expect.

    I think this is a desirable initiative but I think the point that both of us would emphasise is that that deals with the people who are seriously injured at the moment. We would hope that others would perhaps join this initiative and then make sure that in future we are able to deal more speedily and more comprehensively with people who need serious medical help and cannot get it there; I very much hope that that will happen.

    We have had considerable help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and I would also like to thank the Saudi Government who have made a very significant cash contribution towards the cost of this enterprise; I am delighted we are able to do it; I very much hope we will be able to get these sick people back where they can get proper medical treatment very speedily.

    The Prime Minister and I will be happy to take any questions you may have on any of the matters we have been discussing.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    Could I add that we are ready to send a Swedish Air Force Hercules directly down to Sarajevo tomorrow. We have also been in touch with the Swedish hospitals that have the special capabilities to be able to treat especially children that have different war wounds so we are on both sides ready to go subject to UNHCR.

    QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Major, where are the victims going to be treated in the United Kingdom and how soon can they be got out?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We will get them out as speedily as we can. We will certainly have the medical staff, ambulance trauma staff, the doctors and nurses there within 48 hours. As soon as we can get them out, we will take them from Sarajevo to Ancona, from Ancona back to the United Kingdom.
    We have had a large number of offers of support but I would expect that all the injured will be treated in National Health Service hospitals.

    QUESTION:

    At Government cost?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    At Government cost.

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Major, why didn’t you start evacuating these people until the pictures of the little girl Irma appeared in the British media?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    We have had the largest humanitarian operation in Bosnia of any nation for a very long time; it is now very nearly a year ago since we decided to send a large number of British troops there. I think I would say to you in response that there are probably well over 100,000 people alive in Bosnia today as a result of the British humanitarian effort over recent months. I think that is a very proud record and I am delighted we were able to do it.

    We have been considering what we can do for some time. The opportunity arose the other day with the little girl – we brought her out. We have now been able to extend that and I am very grateful that we have been able to do that. I hope now others will follow suit, that we will be able to cut down on some of the difficulties in getting people out and will be able to arrange a more permanent system of help for very many people.

    QUESTION:

    Mr. Major, is there a risk, apart from all the obvious humanitarian aspects, that this might give the wrong sort of message to the Bosnian Serbs as they encircle Sarajevo, that if they make matters bad enough the West will come in and pick up the bits?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I don’t think the Bosnian Serbs should misread what we are doing in any way. What we are doing now is a humanitarian gesture to bring out seriously injured people who cannot get the help they need in Sarajevo, to make sure they get the medical attention they need speedily and comprehensively.

    The Serbs should realise that we are determined to make sure there is a settlement to this dreadful dispute. Helping 41 people rather more I hope in the future – is very welcome but what we really need is an end to the dispute. That is why we have been pressing for the negotiations to come to a successful conclusion, it is why we put diplomatic pressure on them, it is why we have been prepared for some time under the right circumstances to engage in air strikes and we are determined to continue to put pressure on the Serbs, on the Croats and on the Muslims in different ways to try and make sure that we get a satisfactory settlement and the end of fighting.

    QUESTION:

    But if this did actually appear to lead to an increase in the bombardment of Sarajevo would that make you change your attitude on air strikes?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I see no reason to suppose why that is going to be the case and I think the Serbs are very well aware that they would be very unwise to increase the bombardment of Sarajevo. I think they are in no doubt about that.

    QUESTION:

    Why have the EC and the UN failed to stop the war in ex-Yugoslavia?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think that is a question that isn’t just for us. Essentially, the difficulties in Bosnia are a civil war; that is not readily solved from outside.
    Right from the outset of this conflict there have in theory been two ways to solve it: one way was to put in several hundred thousand troops on the ground and forcibly hold the combatants apart perhaps for years at tremendous cost of life and then with no certainty that the fighting would not start again the moment those troops left. The only realistic way to reach a satisfactory conclusion is the way that the West and the United Nations have chosen and that was to seek to provide humanitarian aid to limit the suffering and to seek a negotiated settlement that would end the war. I know of no other way that would have been successful.

    QUESTION:

    [Inaudible] but do you see air strikes on Serbian positions happening this week?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I think you know the present position about that; that has been discussed. We have indicated that in order to reinforce the diplomacy air strikes have been a possibility for some time.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    We have also discussed what is necessary in order to reinforce the UNPROFOR forces primarily when it comes to the implementation of safe areas and the preparations under way in the Nordic countries for the sending of a heavy Nordic battalion to the area and I hope that we will be ready to take the final steps on that in terms of decision-making in the four Nordic countries within the next few days subject to political procedures in all of the four countries.

    QUESTION:

    Have you suggested that the Americans should help in this action?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    In the humanitarian action no. This is not something we have discussed with the Americans on this occasion. This is an initiative Sweden and the United Kingdom have been discussing for a few days; we decided that for the time being we are able to cope with the difficulties that exist and the important thing is to do it quickly and so we have proceeded to make sure we have got the quickest possible outcome but in the future of course we would welcome help from every source in order to help with the humanitarian assistance.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    And from our point of view you can say it is a logical extension of the effort that we have on the ground in Bosnia and in Sarajevo with medical staff there helping at the actual hospitals but what is being done now is to bring out those people, children and others, that can’t for different reasons be treated there but it should not be forgotten that a lot of countries, Sweden in the forefront, have a major effort around the hospitals and helping people on the spot in Sarajevo and the rest of Bosnia.

    QUESTION:

    When you talk about a permanent system of getting refugees out, how would that operate?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    That has to be discussed with the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Refugees and others but what we wish to ensure is that in future where necessary there is perhaps a speedier route to ensure people receive the medical assistance they need. I think that will be welcome. There are obvious difficulties in achieving that – don’t let me suggest to you that that is going to be readily done or easily achieved but I think we should seek to see if it can be done; I hope and believe it can.

    QUESTION:

    If we hadn’t witnessed the case of this little girl, can you honestly say that you would be standing here today making the same announcement?

    PRIME MINISTER MAJOR:

    I can certainly say to you that we have been looking for some time at what we can do to help the seriously injured people in Bosnia and in particular in Sarajevo, yes I can certainly say that.

    PRIME MINISTER BILDT:

    Ladies and Gentlemen, we are short of time and there will be a press conference on Friday when we can sort out the rest of the problems of the world.

  • Mr Major’s Best of British Speech – 30 July 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s Best of British or Britain Means Best speech, given on 30th July 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    In the last few months we British have broken a number of records. Exports are at an all time high. We now export more per person than Japan. Retail sales are at a record level. Our competitiveness is improving at a record rate. Strikes are at the lowest level since records began over 100 years ago. And the number of people who own their own homes is the highest ever.

    That is all excellent news. But we cannot afford to be complacent.

    That’s why I have spent the last year putting in place policies to get British industry moving again.

    British business has now got the framework it wanted: low inflation, low interest rates, competitive prices and a single market in Europe.

    And they’re making the most of it. We are conquering new markets, investing more and as a result unemployment has been falling for five months in a row.

    That’s good, but it’s not good enough. Unemployment is still far too high. We are going to have to fight harder to sell our goods in Continental Europe. But we are on the right track. And Britain is expected to grow faster than almost any other country in Europe this year and next.

    Last year we succeeded in getting inflation down, my number one priority. We mustn’t lose that. My priority now is to make sure that ‘British means Best’ in every market. That means buying the best machines and creating the best designs. That means a well educated workforce, that is prepared to train and retrain. That means governments have to get rid of fussy, nit-picking regulations. Some rules are a necessary evil. But let’s not have unnecessary evils as well.

    The other necessity is to reduce the budget deficit.

    Every family knows you can’t go on spending more than you earn. The same is true for governments. Our spending on social security is rising too fast. More and more people are claiming benefits. We must ensure the really needy get all the help they deserve. But we also need to make sure we aren’t giving taxpayers’ money – your money – to people who don’t need it. This will involve some tough decisions. But governments are there to do just that – take the responsible long term view.

    Of course, irresponsible opposition parties will always offer you the best of all worlds – more spending, no tax increases. But the British people aren’t mugs. You know there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

    All of us need to think and plan long term. There isn’t going to be a repeat of the boom days of the late 1980s. No more stories of Champagne shortages. Those times were very good for some people. But they couldn’t last. And they aren’t what we want. We need a recovery that raises everyone’s living standards. That may mean it is more gradual, but it will mean that it lasts.

    In Government it is the long term that matters. That was why it was necessary to get inflation down. That is why we need an influential position in Europe. That is why we must plan now for the social security system we can afford in the future. None of these policies may make us popular in the short term. But they are right for the country in the long term. And we are going to stick to them.

  • Mr Major’s Statement on the ERM – 30 July 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s statement on the ERM, made on 30th July 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    The events of last week and the weekend vindicate our decision to suspend sterling’s membership of the ERM last September. As I said then, there are fault-lines in the system, which have now affected all the other currencies.

    What we hope will emerge from the weekend’s changes will be conditions that will promote economic recovery in Europe. 60 per cent of our exports go to EC countries, so the opportunity for lower interest rates and a stimulus to economic growth is welcome.

    It is not in the UK’s interests to see currency instability in Europe. So I understand the decision to widen the bands and stick to existing parities, rather than suspend the ERM itself.

    The fault-lines in the system have clearly been exposed, and the Community will have to consider carefully in the longer term what the lessons and the implications are.

    As the Chancellor has made clear, there is no prospect of the UK returning to the ERM in the near future, and we shall continue to set monetary policy by what’s right for the United Kingdom.

    We have always made clear that we did not believe the time-table for EMU set in the Maastricht Treaty was right or practicable. As I said in a speech in the House of Commons on 9 June:

    “In the negotiations at Maastricht I sought and secured an opt-out on the single currency because I was sceptical of its economic impact across Europe and its artificial deadlines … When I was negotiating at Maastricht, the idea of monetary union in 1997 looked ambitious, perhaps even a little dubious. I have to tell the House it looks wholly unrealistic today.”

    I stand by every word of that. The EMU time-table looks totally unrealistic now.

  • Mr Newton’s Statement on Maastricht – 27 July 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Newton’s Commons Statement on Maastricht, made on 27th July 1993. Tony Newton was the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council.

    TONY NEWTON:

    Following the decisive conclusion last Friday of the Parliamentary processes on Maastricht, Parliament goes into its recess this week after a highly productive session, with well over 30 Acts put onto the statute book so far.

    Despite a total of 40 days of debate in the two Houses on the European Communities (Amendment) Act, the Government has also successfully moved ahead with the programme put before Parliament fifteen months ago.

    Of the 15 Bills promised in the Queen’s Speech, 12 are expected to have been passed by this evening – achieving, for example, further improvements to trade union law; important reforms of leasehold, the rights of council tenants and the arrangements for urban regeneration; a firm basis for the continued success of personal pensions; paving the way for coal privatisation; and underpinning our educational reforms. Other significant Bills, including the Railways Bill and the National Lottery Bill, are well on the way to completion before the new session begins later this year.

    In addition, over 20 other Government Bills have been passed, for example, to restrain increases in business rates; to establish a new basis for the Independent Living Fund which helps very severely disabled people; to assist with insurance costs arising from acts of terrorism; and to abolish car tax.

    With the Maastricht debates behind us, and the economy now moving ahead, there could be no clearer evidence that, under the Prime Minister’s firm and determined leadership, the Government is achieving its objective.