To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we can all share an understanding of the appalling strain to which the families of service men and women serving in the Gulf are subject at this time? I refer in particular to the family of Flight-Lieutenant Peters in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Dame J. Knight). We have all seen the outrageous photograph of Flight-Lieutenant Peters, which has been used so cruelly. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made reference to the inspirational courage of the men doing the fighting. Does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree that the steadfast courage of their families at home, who have to wait for the warriors to return, is also deserving of all our support?

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, whose views will be shared throughout the House. The families of those serving in our forces, and most especially of those who have been captured, are suffering a special agony at this time. We send them all our sympathy and we appreciate the courage that they, too, are showing.

I associate myself with the Prime Minister's remarks. Does he agree that the relatives of airmen missing in the Gulf conflict have enough to put up with without having to contend with a prying press? Does he share my view that uninvited intrusions into the lives of very anxious people cannot serve any public interest whatsoever? Will he take this opportunity to appeal to editors to desist from any invasions of privacy?

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. It is standard practice not to disclose the names of those killed without the consent of their families, and I hope and expect that convention to be observed throughout the conflict. I share the right hon. Gentleman's view that people are entitled to privacy at a time of grief and I hope that their privacy will be respected by everyone.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that those industrial nations that are not committing forces to the Gulf can assist by making increased financial contributions to those bearing the expense of upholding the United Nations rule of authority?

Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. Some of the countries concerned have constitutional restrictions against committing forces and some are already contributing substantial funds. However, as the costs mount, I hope that we may look to them to contribute further to the communal costs.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

Is the Prime Minister aware that many of us admire the way in which he and his Government have handled the middle east crisis? In particular, we like the vigour of the Government's response, their clarity of purpose and their refusal to allow themselves to chase after the mirages of diplomatic and political initiatives. Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that we see a sad contrast in the Government's response to Irish republican terrorism, which claimed yet another innocent victim in Ulster yesterday? The Government have allowed themselves to be mired down in political action that has inhibited the response that should be made. Will the right hon. Gentleman bring to Ulster the same clarity and vigour with which he has pursued the Gulf crisis?

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his initial remarks. We have the same opposition to terrorism in northern Ireland as we have to terrorism in the Gulf, and we shall continue to keep that view firmly in mind.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while our attention is rightly focused upon the allied forces in the Gulf today, it would also be right at this time to pay tribute to the late King Olav of Norway who, in times of war and peace, did so much to cement the strong links of friendship between Norway and the United Kingdom?

Yes. I am grateful to my hon. Friend. King Olav was enormously popular in this country and there is a real affection in the hearts of many people here who came to know him. I am sure that the House would wish to join me in sending our sincere condolences to Her Majesty the Queen on the death of her cousin, and on the death of a very good friend to this country.

To ask the Prime Minister what meetings he plans to have with representatives of the homeless in London.

I have no plans to do so at present. Ministers at the Department of the Environment regularly meet voluntary agencies that deal with the problem of homelessness. The most recent such meeting was on 17 January.

Is the Prime Minister aware that tonight more than 3,000 people will be sleeping on the streets of London, that 20,000 families are living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in London and that last year there was an 11 per cent. increase in the number of people declared homeless in the capital city? In the midst of this homelessness crisis in London, will the Prime Minister make resources available for local authorities to build and to buy homes for rent, rather than creating bed-andbreakfast millionaires and paying money to companies for leasing properties? Does the Prime Minister agree that growing up in overcrowded bed-and-breakfast accommodation, or in shared housing, casts a blight over children's whole lives and that they should be allowed to grow up in the same decency that we would want for ourselves?

I wish to see people, and most especially children, properly housed. There is no dispute between the hon. Gentleman and me on that matter. Perhaps the first and the most helpful thing that can be done is for a large number of London authorities, including Islington, to bring into use the large number of empty properties that they own. As the hon. Gentleman knows, a few weeks ago my hon. Friend the Minister of State announced a substantial increase in resources to deal with the problem of homelessness in London.

Further to what my right hon. Friend has just said, could he also look into the millions of pounds in uncollected rents which Labour councils in London are failing to collect? That money could also be channelled to help the homeless in a most constructive way.

My hon. Friend makes a perfectly fair point.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

Does the Prime Minister accept that a concern for the well-being of British troops and a concern for the well-being of Iraqi citizens are not incompatible and in fact reinforce each other? Will he tell us the number of casualties in Basra, in southern Iraq, which is a prime target because of its docks, railway marshalling yards and other facilities, including massed Iraqi troops?

There are no means by which I could know those figures, as the hon. Gentleman knows. He also knows, for it has been repeatedly stated from this Dispatch Box in the past few days, that allied pilots—all of them—have a firm instruction to attempt to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible.

In view of Saddam Hussein's despicable treatment of prisoners of war, on top of other crimes against humanity, does my right hon. Friend agree that the destruction of Saddam Hussein is now a legitimate war aim?

I strongly suspect that Saddam Hussein may yet become a target for his own people. It is perfectly clear that this man is amoral: he takes hostages, attacks population centres and threatens prisoners. He is a man without pity and, whatever his fate may be, I for one will not weep for him.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official enagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

In view of yesterday's newspaper reports that Department of Health press officers are likely to mislead the country seriously about the ability of the national health service to cope with the Gulf war casualties, will the Prime Minister assure the House that accurate information will be given to ensure that truth does not become one of the first casualties of the war?

The hon. Gentleman may certainly have that assurance. There is no question of the national health service or any of its spokesmen, in the Department of Health or elsewhere, misleading either the House or the public.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

After much talk of political union in Europe, is not it disappointing that our European allies, given a clear chance of political unity over United Nations resolutions and their imposition, have failed to match their actions to their rhetoric?

I entirely understand my hon. Friend's point. There is undoubtedly a considerable disparity in the extent to which individual European countries have committed themselves to the problems of the Gulf. Political union and a common foreign and security policy in Europe would have to go beyond statements and extend to actions. Clearly Europe is not ready for that and we should not be too ambitious when it comes to the intergovernmental conference on political union.

Does the Prime Minister agree that, if this morning's reports that Saddam Hussein has started to destroy oil installations in Kuwait are correct, that may suggest two possibilities—first, that Saddam Hussein has given up any chance of holding on to Kuwait and, secondly, that his claim to be defending the interests of Palestinians is manifest nonsense, as 150,000 of them are still trapped in Kuwait, their livelihoods wrecked by his pillage of that country?

Saddam Hussein's claim on the latter point is nonsense in any event, whatever may be happening to the oilfields. I am, of course, aware of the media reports of damage to the oilfields and I have made a number of inquiries up to and including the last few minutes to find out the present position. As yet, I have no independent evidence to confirm those reports; I assure the House that, if and when such evidence becomes available later in the day, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence will make it public.

Much has been made of the way in which the Iraqi authorities have broken the Geneva conventions. Will my right hon. Friend now assure the House categorically that British forces, British authority and our allies will stand by both the spirit and the letter of the conventions?

I can give my hon. Friend that absolute and complete assurance. It is, I think, an assurance that no one anywhere in the world, even in Iraq, would doubt.

Given the almost unanimous feeling about the prying press, will the Prime Minister go a little further and make a personal approach to all the major national editors to ensure that they respect people's feelings and wishes?

I certainly hope that everyone, including the national editors, will respect the privacy of people in grief. I hope that that will satisfy the hon. Gentleman, and I am sure that those remarks will have been heard.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

Does my right hon. Friend recall that, when he visited the Gulf recently, he met troops from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, formerly the Lancashire Fusiliers? That regiment has a strong link with my constituency and recruits extensively in Greater Manchester. Will my right hon. Friend take this opportunity to send a message of thanks and appreciation not just to the troops themselves, but to their families, who anxiously wait at home for news?

I am happy to do that. I enjoyed my meeting with them in the desert very much and was able to bring them up to date with Manchester United's results which, in many cases, were in the forefront of their minds.

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave some moments ago.

Although it is difficult to contemplate the future while we are seeing the horrendous scenes from the Gulf today, while the Prime Minister is contemplating winning the peace will he consider the final arbiters of stability in the Gulf are the Iraqi and Kuwaiti masses? If he accepts that long perspective, how does he think these people will have reacted to the news that tens of thousands of people have been killed, something which seems to contradict the briefing that we have been given that only economic and military targets have been affected?

I repeat that I have no confirmation of the figures of casualties that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. He will know from the debates here in the past few days the important issues of principle at stake. I think that those issues of principle a re understood both in the House and across the whole world.

Will my right hon. Friend join me in condemning recent events in Latvia? Does he share my belief that it would be very sad if the Soviet Union were to lurch back into repression? Will he assure the Soviet Union that economic aid from the European Community will depend on the maintenance of civil rights throughout the Soviet Union and its satellite states?

I will certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. I can also tell him that at present we are in regular contact with the elected Baltic leaders. I hope to see the Latvian Foreign Minister, Mr. Jurkans, tomorrow. I understood earlier today that President Gorbunovs of Latvia has had a meeting with President Gorbachev and that he stated at the conclusion of the meeting that he does not expect direct rule to be imposed. I very much hope that that proves to be correct.

To ask the Prime Minister when he will next be visiting Scotland.

I had a very enjoyable visit to Scotland recently and I look forward to returning there shortly.

The Prime Minister is for ever telling us that he is prepared to listen. If he did so on his recent visit to Scotland, he will know by now that the people of Scotland want the poll tax abolished, they want a Scottish Parliament established in Edinburgh and they want the Tories kicked out of office at Westminster. When will he call a general election to allow them to achieve these three things?

How very curious. That is not precisely what they said to me.