HC Deb 06 March 1945 vol 408 cc1819-21
41. Mr. Hammersley

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the steady decline in the production of cotton goods is due to one factor only, namely, inadequate labour supply; and will he take energetic measures, in consultation with the Minister of Labour, to remedy this serious position and to devise some ameliorative action.

Mr. Dalton

My right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply and I are in constant touch with my right hon. Friends the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Production on this matter. As my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour informed my hon. Friend on Thursday last, further measures are in hand for increasing the number of workpeople in the spinning section of the cotton industry. My right hon. Friends and I Eire also in touch with the Cotton Board in regard to the action which the industry itself is taking, and must in future take, to attract new recruits.

Mr. Hammersley

As it would appear from the answer that everybody is getting into touch with everybody else, can my right hon. Friend tell fee House what in fact is being done? Is it not the case that when civilian production gets to the low limit that it has reached in this particular trade, the matter becomes one of urgent war priority?

Mr. Dalton

What is happening is that the Ministers concerned with production in Lancashire are in touch with each other to see whether we can divert some of the labour now employed in making munitions to the spinning of cotton. That is the problem we are considering, but, evidently, we must not prejudice the production of munitions in this critical stage of the war. The cotton industry is not an attractive industry, compared with the making of munitions, and that is one of our troubles.

Mr. Silverman

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the steady decline of an adequate labour supply is due to one cause only, and that is the failure of the employers in other trades to provide labour with decent wages or reasonable security of employment? May I ask him whether the Government will devise any ameliorative action in regard to that matter?

Mr. Dalton

I answered that question last week.

Mr. Anderson

Is it not possible that a number of war industries imported into Lancashire could be transferred to the special areas where unemployment exists at the present time, and thus release cotton operatives?

Mr. Hammersley

In relation to the supplementary question of the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Silver-man), may I ask the Minister whether it is not based on lack of information, and cannot be borne out by the facts?

52. Mr. Burke

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can yet announce any Government proposals designed to assist the cotton trade of Lancashire to recover export markets in order that it may make its contribution to the 50 per cent. increase in the country's export trade which the Government have declared to be necessary.

Mr. Dalton

As I have previously stated, it is the view of His Majesty's Government that, for some time after the war, the cotton industry should be able to sell overseas, at good prices, all it can produce for export. When I discussed post-war problems with leaders of the cotton industry in September last, I urged them to take certain immediate steps to increase the efficiency of the industry. As I informed my hon. Friend the Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Silverman) last Tuesday, discussions on this matter between the various sections of the industry, under the auspices of the Cotton Board, have been proceeding, and I have asked the Chairman of the Cotton Board to keep me informed of their progress.

Mr. Burke

The Question asks what the Government are doing. In September the Minister told the industry what it had to do. What the industry wants to know is what the Government propose in regard to the export trade specifically.

Mr. Dalton

To encourage export trade to the utmost extent, consistent with the prosecution of the war effort and the maintenance of essential civilian supplies.

Mr. Silverman

Has my right hon. Friend included, among the steps he has suggested to the industry, the provision of a legal minimum wage, so as to alter the position whereby, before the war, a weaver could work 48 hours a week for less than 20s.

Mr. Dalton

One of the points I raised with the industry, as I stated at the time, was the modernisation of the wage structure, which is primarily a matter for the employers and workers in the industry to work out in detail.