HC Deb 07 June 1956 vol 553 cc1263-4
30. Mr. Chapman

asked the Minister of Labour to what extent short-time working has now decreased in the motor car industry.

Mr. Iain Macleod

The estimated number on short time in the manufacture of motor cars and accessories, after rising to a peak of 52,000 at Whitsuntide, has since fallen to 22,000 in the week ended 2nd June.

Mr. Chapman

Is it not clear that the Government were grossly over-optimistic in expecting the situation to clear up during the summer? Is it not now full of forebodings for the coming winter? Would it not be better now, before the situation deteriorates in the autumn and the winter, to call together both sides of the industry, so that they can face the problem as it is likely to be?

Mr. Macleod

I should have thought that the decline in the figures for some considerable time shows that on the whole the Opposition, and particularly the hon. Member for Northfield (Mr. Chapman), were grossly over-pessimistic in the debate which took place on employment.

Mr. Bence

Would the right hon. Gentleman consult his right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of Trade, because when we have high-cost technological equipment working only part of its potential full time, we tend to increase the cost of the product and not lower it?

Mr. Macleod

I do not dissent from that, and it is one of the matters about which we are in constant discussion now.