8. Mr. H. Wilsonasked the Minister of Labour the numbers registered as unemployed in the Merseyside Development Area in October, 1951, October, 1952. and January, 1953, respectively.
§ Mr. Watkinson16,729 at 15th October, 1951, 25,760 at 13th October, 1952, and 28,011 at 12th January, 1953.
Mr. WilsonSince unemployment has almost doubled over the period covered by this Question, will the hon. Gentleman, recognising that this is spread over a wide range of industry, say what the Government intend to do now to resume the direction of new industries to Merseyside?
§ Mr. WatkinsonI should be glad to do so. I think that the important thing is to get the facts right. The facts are that there were 28,000 people unemployed in this area in February, 1950. Since 1948, there has been an increase of 14,000 in the working population, and we hope in 1953 to provide new jobs for six to seven thousand people.
Mr. WilsonWill the Minister say how much of that improvement is since 1950 and how many of these six to seven thousand new jobs have been created as a result of factories established by the Labour Government?
§ Mr. WatkinsonI do not deny that for a moment. I think and hope that the right hon. Gentleman is as delighted as I am that this has helped, because I myself never thought that this problem of finding jobs for people who need them was essentially a party political matter.