§ 9. Mr. Hammersleyasked the Minister of Labour if he will take prompt and effective action to recruit additional labour to the industry before the production of cotton yarn is allowed to decline further.
§ Mr. BevinFurther measures are in preparation for augmenting the number of workpeople in the spinning section of the cotton industry, the importance of which I fully appreciate.
§ Mr. HammersleyIs my right hon. Friend aware of the very great responsibility which rests upon him for this manpower muddle, which has already resulted in shop shortages and may endanger the whole of the clothes rationing scheme; and is he going to do something effective about it?
§ Mr. BevinI am not aware that there is any man-power muddle at all. There has been a lot of muddle in the cotton industry prior to the war, to which my hon. Friend has contributed. What we have to do now is to try to get the cotton industry on a more modern and definite footing, and in that, we are working together with my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.
§ Mr. HammersleyIs it not a fact that the Government, and the Administration in which my right hon. Friend plays a very important part, are entirely responsible for the conduct of the cotton trade at the present time and that the employers are quite helpless and cannot do anything?
§ Mr. HammersleyOn a point of Order. Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I will raise this matter on the Adjournment.