§ 17. Colonel HOWARD-BURYasked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the increasing unemployment figures, she can state how many of these are due to married women, who have done little or no work since marriage, who have now come on the register?
§ Miss BONDFIELDThere is no reason to suppose that the increases in the unemployment figures in the past two weeks have been due to this cause. These increases took place mainly in the Northwestern and North-Eastern Divisions and were due principally to further discharges or short-time working in the cotton and the woollen and worsted industries.
§ Colonel HOWARD-BURYSeeing that the figures are already 135,000 more than they were this time last year, can the right hon. Lady say to what it is due? Is it due to the uncertainty caused by the action of the Chancellor of the Exchequer?