HC Deb 22 January 1957 vol 563 cc20-1
30. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Labour the latest position with regard to unemployment and short-time in the motor car industry; to what extent he estimates that this results from the shortage of petrol and the credit squeeze; and what are the future prospects in this respect.

41. Mr. Edelman

asked the Minister of Labour how many workers were unemployed or on short time in the motor industry at the latest convenient date, compared with a similar date last year.

Mr. Iain Macleod

On 10th December, 4,400 workers in the motor vehicle and accessories industries were registered as wholly unemployed. Last week 57,000 were reported to be working short time. It is not possible to determine the precise effect of the various factors causing unemployment or to make any estimate for the future, but most of the current short time is attributed to the shortage of petrol. Comparable figures for a year previously are 1,500 unemployed and about 7,000 on short time.

Mr. Dodds

Will the right hon. Gentleman answer the last part of my Question, which asks what are the future prospects in this respect? Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware of the growing uneasiness about the situation and of the feeling that the Government are being too complacent about it? Will he say what is being done to deal with it should it worsen, as the signs at the present time are that it will?

Mr. Macleod

If the hon. Gentleman reads my Answer, he will see that I dealt with the question he asks in the first part of his supplementary question. As to the rest of the supplementary question, I would refer him to either the debate which we had in the House on employment or to the Answers which I gave to Questions immediately before Christmas. He will see that I showed no complacency at all about the position. Indeed, I said that there was bound to be a worsening of the position in the New Year.

Mr. Edelman

Quite apart from petrol rationing and the credit squeeze, there is a deep malaise in the motor industry. Will the right hon. Gentleman not now commend to the Government that the industry should be nationalized—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—on the pattern of the highly successful and flourishing Volkswagen and Renault enterprises?