HC Deb 22 March 1956 vol 550 c1438
5. Mr. Chapman

asked the President of the Board of Trade what action he proposes to take in order to relieve unemployment in the motor cycle industry.

Mr. P. Thorneycroft

Figures of employment in the motor cycle industry are not available. I understand, however, that there has been some marginal decrease in the number of people employed in this industry. I do not accept the implication that a given level of employment in a particular industry should necessarily be maintained.

Mr. Chapman

Nor does anyone else, but does not this mean that, as in the motor car industry, it is a case of "no interest, no action, no policy, no anything"?

Mr. Thorneycroft

No, Sir, nor am I at all clear what action the hon. Gentleman is proposing.

Mr. Nabarro

Is it not a fact that the motor cycle industry is for the most part centred in the Midlands and that in the Midlands area there are at present 46,000 vacancies for jobs out of a total insured population of two million?

Mr. Thorneycroft

It is true that there are a number of unfilled vacancies in the Midlands area, but these matters were widely debated in the discussion in the House on Tuesday.

Mr. Bottomley

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the Government have no responsibility in this matter and that it is for the employers to push the workers around?

Mr. Thorneycroft

What I said was that no Government, surely, of any political persuasion, can ever accept the position that the number of men in a particular industry should always stay the same. That would lead to the freezing of the whole of British industry.