asked the Prime Minister if there is a copy of Queen's Regulations for the Army in the library of No. 10 Downing Street paid for out of public funds.

No.

Is the Prime Minister aware that Queen's Regulations do not forbid the wives of Service personnel protesting about the low level of pay, and was it not rather shabby of him to try to stop them doing so? Secondly, will the right hon. Gentleman stop trying to pay decent wages to public service personnel by post-dated cheques drawn on the next Tory Government?

The hon. Gentleman is quite right in saying that Queen's Regulations do not forbid Service wives making protests about the levels of pay or, indeed, other matters. Far from discouraging them or forbidding them to do so, when I went to Plymouth I met a deputation of Service wives from the Royal Navy and had a very full discussion with them about the whole matter. Therefore, perhaps the hon. Gentleman will withdraw that imputation. As regards post-dated cheques, I can promise the hon. Gentleman that we shall be here to redeem all the cheques that are issued.

Will the Prime Minister consider allowing members of Her Majesty's Forces to join their appropriate trade union, so that they may then have opinions different from the one recently expressed in cold-war terms in China by a senior officer?

My experience over the last few weeks convinces me that the Services are extremely well served in the matter of knowledge of their conditions and pay being made public and the pressures that are applied upon Her Majesty's Government to ensure that their obligations are met in full.

When this subject was last raised with the right hon. Gentleman, he assured the House that the Forces would get a square deal. Why has he not fulfilled that promise?

Clearly, that must remain a matter of opinion, but in relation to all civilian employees, both in the Government service and generally, I think it true to say that the Services have been given an equivalent deal, together with a firm promise that where their conditions have fallen behind they will be brought up to date during the next two years. Despite our great success in the battle against inflation, we must not forget that there is still a continuing battle to be fought and won on that front, and every section of the community has to play its part.