asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on discussions between his office and the Northern Ireland Executive with regard to relations with the Republic of Ireland.

I am in regular contact with the Executive on all matters of common interest, including, when appropriate, matters relating to the Irish Republic.

I note that reply. The next time that the right hon. Gentleman meets the Executive and other politicians in Northern Ireland, will he commend to them the view expressed—as reported in yesterday's Irish Times—by Mr. Sandy Scott, of the executive of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, that people in Northern Ireland should stop looking upon themselves as some 17th century museum piece and enter meaningful relationships with the rest of the working class in the United Kingdom?

I think that the Executive is already doing that. It already has many contacts with the Government of the Republic. The Executive has not been functioning for very long, but it has made an excellent start, and this relationship is all that it should be.

May I say first, Mr. Speaker, that it is delightful to see you back in the Chair again?

I thank the hon. Gentleman. I hope that I shall enjoy it as much as he.

I hope that I shall not put a blight on your return, Mr. Speaker.

All parties to that agreement have every intention of carrying out the agreement, and there will be a further meeting about it. It is not true to say that the Republic does not intend to carry out its part of the agreement. I am certain that it does. I do not agree with my hon. Friend's reference to the alleged lack of support for what has happened in Northern Ireland. I think that there is a great deal of support. Indeed, from all my contacts there, I would say that a substantial majority of people in Northern Ireland clearly want this to work. There is no question of any party's not being prepared or willing or wanting to carry it through.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that paragraph 7 of the Sunningdale communiqué says that

"Following the appointment of a Northern Ireland Executive, the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive would nominate their representatives to a"

That raises rather a different question. I can tell the hon. Gentleman—indeed, he will know already—that Mr. Faulkner has made a visit to Dublin and that the preliminaries for further discussions have already taken place and are continuing.

When will the Sunningdale agreement be ratified by my right hon. Friend's Government and the Southern Ireland Government?

No date has yet been fixed for a further meeting. It was foreshadowed that there would be a second meeting in due course, when various reports would be studied, but no date has yet been fixed.

What discussions have been held with respect to bringing criminals to justice on both sides of the border for crimes committed by the terrorists?

I think that the Governments on both sides of the border are taking every step they can to bring terrorists to justice. That is indeed our prime objective, and it applies to the Government of the South no less than to Her Majesty's Government.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the activities of the new Northern Ireland Executive Government since its commencement of functions in the New Year.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he is satisfied with the progress made so far by the new Executive; and if he will make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will make a statement about the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.

The House will follow with great interest the progress of the Northern Ireland Executive, but I am sure that hon. Members will agree that we ought to pay full regard to the fact that the Executive is responsible to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

I acknowledge that reservation from my right hon. Friend. Will he confirm that the Executive is now gaining increasing acceptance from moderate opinion in Northern Ireland and that any attempts, from whatever quarter, to undermine the operation or constitutional effectiveness of the Executive would be received with a grave and violent reaction and a severe response from people of good will in both Northern Ireland and this country?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I agree with what he has said. It is true that even in its first month the new Executive has grown in strength and respect. I am certain that it is the wish of everyone in Northern Ireland—or, if not everyone, the great majority—that it should be a success and should grow in strength and ability. I think that it has had a successful period in its first month.

Are not the reported statements of the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley), favouring independence of Britain, and of Mr. Boal, favouring federation with the Republic, extreme indications of apprehension and resentment among the majority? Is not the key to the Sunning-dale settlement the allaying of their fears? Will my right hon. Friend listen to any suggestions from his hon. Friends for doing so?

Yes, indeed. I shall do that. Over the last year or two a great many suggestions have been made as to how the problems that have arisen in Northern Ireland should be resolved. It is true that the method finally chosen and decided upon does not have the support of everyone, but I am convinced that it has the support of the vast majority. Clearly, there are difficulties at first. There would be difficulties at first in any new method that was tried in Northern Ireland, from those who did not agree with it. But the present arrangement was arrived at after a great deal of debate in this House, in the country and in Ireland. It is my view that the vast majority want this to work and succeed. We ought to give every help that we can and to use all our influence to make sure that it succeeds. That is the best and quickest way of bringing peace back to the Province, which is surely what everyone wants more than anything else.

I think that the whole House will agree that a prerequisite to the solution of the problems of Northern Ireland is the maintenance of law and order. Does the right hon. Gentleman deny or confirm the statement made by the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) about the savage murder of the German industrialist?

That is a different matter. On that matter there has been close cooperation and exchange of information between the Metropolitan Police and the police in this country and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. I think that everything that can be done in that case has been done.

Further to that reply, will the right hon. Gentleman say why his office issued a denial of the statement that I had made and then the Home Office confirmed that my statement was right? Why did the RUC issue a statement saying that it was kept in the dark about these arrangements between members of the Provisional IRA—or, as the Government say, people who purported to be from the Provisional IRA—and his Government?

All those people in the Northern Ireland Office and in the RUC who needed to know about this approach and, indeed, other approaches were immediately informed.

The Opposition welcome the start that the Executive has made and recognise that it is on a fairly bumpy road. Nevertheless, it has got off to a reasonable start from our point of view. In regard to expenditure, one has seen some of the proposals which have already come forward. Will the Government be in a position to meet any increased expenditure and will it be subject to Government cuts?

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he said at the beginning of his supplementary question. I think that he will know that when my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced some major cuts in public expenditure in the House a few weeks ago he said that they did not apply to Northern Ireland. That is a considerable advantage for Northern Ireland, and the people of Northern Ireland appreciate it. It would not be right for me to commit my right hon. Friend the Chancellor as to the future, but at any rate, up to now, the people of Northern Ireland have been and are today in a comparatively favourable position, for reasons that we all understand.

May I put this matter very strongly? Will the Secretary of State accept the anger felt by so many of us on this side of the Irish Channel at the efforts being made by the so-called Loyalists to disrupt the workings of the Northern Ireland Assembly? Will he accept, further, that this must affect the way in which many of us view the continuation of military and financial assistance to the Province?

Many of us in this House would deplore unparliamentary behaviour in any democratically-elected body. What happens in the Northern Ireland Assembly is essentially a matter for its members, but I very much endorse what my hon. Friend said. It is always a great mistake in any elected body to have among its number members who behave in that way.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now hold a referendum in Northern Ireland to test the degree of support for the establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive.

I have at present no plans to do so.

Has my right hon. Friend noticed that most opponents of the Sunningdale agreement attack it on the ground that it lacks majority support in Northern Ireland? Has my right hon. Friend noted the fact that some moderate leaders in Northern Ireland are now calling for a referendum to demonstrate that there is a majority in favour of moderation in Northern Ireland, just as the last referendum proved conclusively that there is a majority in favour of Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom?

I know of my hon. Friend's expertise in regard to referenda, and his enthusiasm for them. I am bound to say, however, that in the United Kingdom we have not found it a very satisfactory way of conducting political debate. There is always argument about the question. There are always problems about deciding its phrasing. My view is that everyone in Northern Ireland wants to give the Executive a chance to work. The best and proper way for these matters to be discussed and put to the people again is, in due course, at an election, when all the various aspects can be debated. That is the right way to proceed.

Would the right hon. Gentlemen consider it to be in the interests of law and order, and giving encouragement to moderates, if he talked to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which has done so much and which condemns violence so wholeheartedly?

I am available, and have been already, to talk to a great many individuals and groups of people in Northern Ireland. I am always available to receive representations.

Now that the Executive has been formed and its programme promulgated, would not a very much better and more effective way of testing present opinion in Northern Ireland be to hold a General Election for the Assembly? That would decide the matter.

Many people in Northern Ireland have represented to me that they have voted quite enough and are sick of going to the polls. There is a view that there ought to be another General Election, and in due course there will be another General Election—at any rate, within the next four years. The best thing that can happen now, having come to these decisions, is to allow them a chance to work and to be seen to work. In due course a verdict will be passed upon them, as happens in any other democratic country.

Following on that reply, will the right hon. Gentleman indicate the number of people that he has seen about this matter and what relation that number bears to the number of people in Northern Ireland who actually have a vote?

I do not think that it is possible to answer that question. Since I have occupied this office I have spent at least half of each week in Northern Ireland and have seen a great many people. I could not quantify them, but I have received a great many views. Whereas it is true that there are those who believe—like my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Down, South (Captain Orr)—that there is something to be said for putting the issue to the people of Northern Ireland fairly soon, I have had a great many more representations in the contrary sense.

As more than a third of the elected representatives of the Assembly have now withdrawn from it, does the Minister stand by his statement today that the vast majority of people support the Northern Ireland Constitution Act?

As a matter of fact, I do. It is a cunous kind of withdrawal because the withdrawal keeps going into reverse as far as I can see. I do not think there has been a withdrawal in the proper sense of that word, but in so far as one has taken place I regret it very much. It was open to the leaders of other parties in Northern Ireland to take part in these discussions and share in the Executive if they so wished, and the fact that they did not wish to do so was a matter for them. In due course, when experience of the new arrangements has been gained, it will eventually have to be put to the people of Northern Ireland.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will seek to repeal Section 6 of the Emergency Provisions (Northern Ireland) Act 1973 under which policemen may bring forward as evidence statements by an accused which were not made by an accused to a policeman in a police station or interrogation centre, and statements which are in fact distortions or representations of statements made in conversation in a police station or interrogation centre, in view of the disquiet that the use of such alleged statements is causing.

No, Sir. I have no evidence that the police are using Section 6 of the Act improperly.

Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the things described in the Question are in fact happening every day, that they are well documented, that reports of them appear in newspapers every day of the week, that unsigned statements are being admitted as evidence, that verbal statements are daily being accepted as evidence, that, since an accused is not allowed to have with him his legal adviser, he is entirely at the mercy of, or dependent upon, the integrity of the police, and that it is a long-proven fact that in political and civil rights affairs the integrity of the police towards the Catholic community in Northern Ireland is simply non-existent? Will he not reconsider the position?

No, Sir. I can assure the House that the RUC knows of no case in which distortions or misrepresentations of statements made in conversation in a police station or an interrogation centre have been brought forward as evidence.

Will the Government announce soon their plans for the renewal of the Emergency Provisions (Northern Ireland) Act? What procedure will be followed? The Act is renewable annually. What will be the timing, for example?

I note what the hon. Gentleman has said, as I am sure does my right hon. Friend. An order will be brought before the House in due course, when these matters can be thoroughly debated, as they have been in the past.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans the Government have for an increased forestry programme in Northern Ireland.

The forestry programme in Northern Ireland is now the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland under the Executive.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. In view of the fact that there are vast areas of land in the Six Counties which are virtually undeveloped and that within a year or two we shall be importing over £1,000 million worth of timber per annum, will my hon. Friend make representations in the usual way to the effect that a possibly useful way of deploying some of that land may be through increased forestry programmes?

Much as I should like to tell of the forests of Northern Ireland and the facilities there, because I have seen them for myself, this matter is now really for the Northern Ireland Executive.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in the past two years in improving recruitment and training to the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Police Reserve and in making increasing use of this force in restoring and maintaining law and order in Northern Ireland.

I understand from the Police Authority that, in addition to an expanding advertising programme, 13 full-time recruiting officers are employed throughout Northern Ireland maintaining close contact with likely sources of recruitment and with community leaders. In the two years from 1st January 1972 to 31st December 1973 the strength of the RUC has increased from 4,086 to 4,391, and the RUC Reserve has gone up from 1,284 to 2,514. Every effort is being made to improve recruitment still further and, particularly, to encourage people from all sections of the community to join.

I thank my hon. Friend for that comprehensive reply. Is he satisfied with the arrangements for recruitment? Is he not aware that, following the disastrous effects of the Hunt Report, many policemen, particularly reserve policemen, have been attacked and murdered by terrorists? In those circumstances it is important that the morale of the police should be restored and the approach to recruiting broadened. The results of obtaining recruits from the minority section of the community have been most disappointing. Great intimidation is used to prevent members of the minority joining the police force. What steps is my hon. Friend planning to deal with the situation?

Of course, we are never satisfied with recruitment and we always want to see more from all sections of the community coming forward in Northern Ireland. However, I think that progress has been reasonable and I can assure my hon. Friend that a tremendous amount of effort is going into attracting recruits. The budget for recruiting drives is £50,000 for the year.

Is the Minister aware that the Opposition welcome the meeting of the head of the Garda Síochána with the head of the RUC. This is a positive step towards the co-operation which has been sadly lacking in the past, for reasons we all understand. My right hon. and hon. Friends and I dissociate ourselves from the remarks by the hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. McMaster) about the effect of the Hunt Report. To what extent has there been success in gaining the toleration, if not the positive acceptance, of the RUC in those minority areas where feelings against the RUC have helped create the unhappy atmosphere of the last two or three years? To what extent are the minority coming forward as recruits for the RUC?

I welcome what the hon. Member said at the beginning of his question. Co-operation is certainly most important if we are to bring an end to the problems of Northern Ireland. We must try to get more of the minority into the police force. Currently they represent only about 10 per cent. of the numbers but there is a growing acceptance in this direction, which we must encourage.

In spite of the figures given by my hon. Friend, will he confirm that hundreds of men have left the UDR, the police and the police reserve in recent months, and that they are resigning for the same reason as Lord Cecil because they are disappointed with the Government's failure to deal effectively with the terrorists in Ulster?

I do not accept that. The figures are fairly encouraging and I hope that my hon. Friend will do everything he can to encourage more people to join the RUC. Intimidation and fear among the families have been partly responsible for some of the men leaving the force, and that is to be expected.

Will the Minister say when an announcement will be made about the placing of the new police college for the RUC? What steps is he taking to deal with the dilapidated police stations throughout the Province? Many of them are very old and in a deplorable state, and provide no proper accommodation for new recruits. The state of these police stations hardly encourages anyone to join.

On the first part of the question I cannot give my hon. Friend an answer, but I shall see that the information is provided. On the second part, in Northern Ireland there is a problem of finding sufficient builders to do the work and the repairs, but I know that the authority is giving the matter urgent attention.

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many acts of terrorism have been committed in Northern Ireland by terrorists operating from the Eire side of the border; and how many terrorists have fled into the Irish Republic after committing crimes in Northern Ireland during each of the past six months.

Between 1st August 1973 and 30th January 1974 there were 345 border incidents in which terrorists who sought refuge in or came from the Republic were suspected to have been involved.

Will my right hon. Friend accept that the figures he has just announced and the aerial attack by the IRA on the town of Strabane about a week ago indicate that there has been an intensification in assaults by IRA terrorists on Northern Ireland from bases in the Republic since my right hon. Friend met Mr. Cosgrave at Sunningdale? Is he aware that there is no real evidence that the Dublin Government are anxious to move effectively against the IRA terrorists in the Republic?

Regrettably, I can confirm only that there has been increased activity along the border. It is probably a deliberate decision by the IRA and is partly the result of the success of the security forces in Belfast and other parts of the Province. I do not accept that the Republic is in any sense uninterested or inactive in dealing with the situation on the border. It has given clear indication that it intends to increase its activities. It has already sought to increase the size of its own Garda in order to contribute to this. The police on both sides of the border are co-operating more closely than ever before, and both this Government and the Government of the Republic are determined to do everything they can to improve the situation.

Is it not the case that in Northern Ireland there is a phone-in system whereby citizens can provide information to the security authorities for dealing with terrorists? Is the Secretary of State aware that the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) did not use the telephone but used his pulpit last Sunday to say categorically that the IRA had murdered Mr. Niedermayer after the Government had refused a demand to transfer the Price sisters to London? Is that true, and has the hon. Gentleman provided information to the proper authorities?

No. No evidence of any kind has been produced from any source about the fate, whatever it may be, of Mr. Niedermayer. There has been no telephone call relating to the case other than the ones to which I referred. Some people have alleged that they have information, but none of that information has proved to be accurate and none was substantiated. I have had no contact from the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) on this matter. If he had any information I can only imagine that he would have given it to me as, indeed, he should have done.

Will the Secretary of State confirm or deny that certain communications were made to Downing Street regarding the kidnapping of Mr. Niedermayer? Will he confirm or deny that a proposition was put to No. 10 Downing Street about the conditions for the release of Mr. Niedermayer? Will he confirm or deny that the Government took no action upon the matter? Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is evident that the IRA does not make threats without carrying them out? Is it not conclusive from the information now available and released by the Home Office that these matters took place and that they point to the fact that Mr. Niedermayer has been murdered?

There have been a number of telephone calls about this sad, tragic and worrying case. Every telephone call was followed up in the greatest detail. The hon. Gentleman referred to a telephone call and said that at the conclusion of the call it was said that Mr. Niedermayer had been brutally murdered. He has not produced one iota of evidence to substantiate that. I am still waiting to hear from him what that evidence is.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that the milk subsidy is increased in line with permitted increases in the retail price of milk.

In deciding the future level of the retail price for milk the Government will take full account of the interests of milk producers, consumers and the dairy trade.

While that consideration is taking place, will the right hon. Gentleman say whether any studies are being made of the probable effect on the health of the elderly and of children of even a small increase in the price of milk, which will lead to reduced consumption of such an essential food? The farmers can speak for themselves, but will the Minister act for consumers, who have no powerful body to represent them?

A continuing study is being made of that matter. With regard to the rest of the hon. Lady's remarks, I do not wish to go further than I have already gone.

My right hon. Friend's reply was to some extent reassuring. Is he aware that if full account of increased costs to farmers is not taken at the annual price review there is a real likelihood not only that the production of milk products will be cut but that supplies of liquid milk will be endangered? What will the Government do about that?

My right hon. Friend and I are most anxious to see that there is a fair and right award. We recognise the immense problems that the increased cost of feed has caused. I am not prepared to anticipate the result of the review.

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that we are facing a major crisis and that there is a danger this year, for the first time, of a possible shortage of liquid milk? Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that a number of small dairy farmers are facing bankruptcy? Is he aware that foodstuff prices have been escalating above the already intolerable figures? Would it not be more sensible to announce to the farmers, without waiting for the price review, that the Government accept the policy which the Opposition have been advocating of an immediate subsidising of imported foodstuffs?

No. I do not think that the last suggestion has the substance about it which the hon. Gentleman seems to think it has. I have already said that we fully recognise the problem. I ask Labour Members not to exaggerate the position excessively. There was a report on the radio yesterday morning to the effect that 85 per cent. of the cows being slaughtered were in calf. We have done the most careful research, and have found that that is not so. The position is not anything like that.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that in the past four months butter stocks in Britain and the EEC have fallen by 50 per cent? Is not that an added reason for the confidence of dairy farmers to be restored at the earliest possible moment?

I should have thought that there was some merit in the butter mountain's being slightly less high than before.

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen a letter from Northants farmers pointing out that because of the enormous cost of concentrates they will go bankrupt, and no more liquid milk will be produced in Northants?

First, I must complete my answer to the hon. Member for Renfrew, West (Mr. Buchan). There is not even the remotest likelihood of a shortage of liquid milk. There will not be such a shortage. I think that there could be a remarkable recovery very quickly after the review is announced.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much the cost of food has risen since 18tb June 1970.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the percentage increase in food prices since June 1970.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the percentage of food price increases since June 1970.

asked the Minister or Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the percentage increase in food prices since June 1970.

Between 16th June 1970 and 11th December 1973, the latest date for which information is available, the food index rose by 48·7 per cent.

Is the Minister aware that that increase has had a devastating effect upon everybody and, in particular, upon old-age pensioners? Is she aware that in 1970 old-age pensioners spent, per head, 223 p per week on food and that in 1973 the figure had risen to 288p per head? Further, is she aware that if that expenditure had kept pace with costs it would have been 334p per ead per week? As these figures are extracted from those published by her Department, is there not conclusive evidence that under this Government old-age pensioners are eating less than they have ever eaten before?

No, that is not so. As the hon. Gentleman knows, pensions have increased per week for single pensioners by £2·75p and for married pensioners by £4·40p. Our figures show that pensioners' food expenditure is up by 57p per head per week.

Is my hon. Friend aware that some more reasonably priced meals can still be obtained in London—at, for instance, the White House Restaurant, Regents Park, which is frequented by the executive of the National Union of Mine-workers, where large and lasting expense accounts for drinks can be run up?

I know that my hon. Friend will have noticed from that bill that the men's priorities were placed roughly in the same order as their normal spending on alcohol and food. Spending on alcohol over the past three years has increased by 37·8 per cent. and upon food by only 23·9 per cent.

Perhaps the hon. Lady will come back to the real question which she is being asked. Does she agree that the staggering 48 per cent. increase in food prices which she has announced today is now outdated because it is now over 50 per cent.? Is the hon. Lady aware that many of the traditional and popular meals which British people enjoyed and could afford to buy, such as fish and chips and Irish stews, are now out of the price range of many people? Conservative Members may laugh; possibly they have never eaten such meals. They should realise that many people used to eat them and enjoy them, and that, unfortunately, they are now unable to pay for them. What action has the hon. Lady's Department taken to contain food prices, in view of the avalanche of price increases about to descend on the British housewives?

I have cooked more such meals than the hon. Gentleman will ever have done, and I point out to him that that increase falls within a cost of living increase of 34½ per cent. Since average earnings have increased by 50½ per cent. in that time, the hon. Gentleman cannot gainsay the fact that there has been an increase in the standard of living. Clearly, he has missed seeing the tape today. I am sure that the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Golding) will be delighted, because the cost of the British bacon and egg, has gone down today.

Can my hon. Friend tell us by how much world food prices have risen over the same period?

World food commodity prices last year alone rose by 50 per cent. The Opposition cannot blinker the eyes to the fact that, as a nation which imports half the food it eats, we cannot be isolated from a 50 per cent. increase in world prices in 12 months, representing double the increase over the previous 14 years.

Does not the hon. Lady agree that in 1970 the Prime Minister was either totally inept or was making crass promises he knew he could not fulfil when he said that prices could be cut at a stroke? When the hon. Lady was appointed to her present post, she was announced as the "housewives' watchdog" on prices, but her behaviour since has made Sooty look like a veritable tiger. Does not the hon. Lady understand that in every household, week after week when prices rise, there inevitably is an effect on the industrial scene when ordinary housewives cannot get enough money to meet the food bills? Will the hon. Lady acknowledge that fact and stop giving us a catalogue of excuses which make Hans Andersen look like a fifth-rate operator?

In a period of inflation, especially of world food prices—which, for example, has resulted in an increase in the cost of living in Canada of 17 per cent., in Australia of 18 per cent. and in the United States of 19½ per cent. in one year—I recognise that the housewife has difficulty in making the budget go round. I am a watchdog for the housewives, and I have noticed with interest that a recent survey showed that 45 per cent. of the housewives in Britain received no extra money to spend on food last year, in spite, of the wage increases contained in stage 2.

Does not my hon. Friend agree that while the men are getting the wage increases it is the women who are getting the price increases? In the circumstances it would not be appropriate to introduce a blanket increase in wages. Is not the right way to deal with the situation to incease family allowances?

That aspect is within the responsibility of my right hon. Friends, but my hon. Friend obviously accepts the point I have referred to—that, while expenditure on food has increased only by 23·9 per cent., spending on alcohol, which is predominantly done by the men in the families, has increased by 37·8 per cent.

Why is it that when the miners ask for a pay rise it results in emergency Cabinet meetings, allegations of "Reds under the bed," opinion polls, flags up for an election and all the paraphernalia of the media brought to bear by the Prime Minister? When are the Government going to pay some attention to food prices and show the public that they are trying to take some action to control inflation?

The miners' dispute does not fall within my responsibility, but have heard my right hon. Friends point out that the increased pay to the miners over the last three years is twice as big as the increase in the cost of living.

The hon. Lady would do better to remind the Prime Minister that he should fulfil the promise he made in 1970. It would certainly be better for the old-age pensioners, who are eating less at greater cost. Has not there been a fall in the protein intake of pensioners, although they are spending a great deal more than when the Prime Minister was making his ill-famed promises?

That is not so. The Department of Health and Social Security keeps a close watch on the protein intake of pensioners, and it is well above the recommended level.