§ 33. Mr. Liptonasked the Minister of Labour how many unemployed are registered at the Brixton employment exchange; what the insured population is in the area covered by this exchange; and what percentage the unemployed is of this insured population.
§ Mr. Whitelaw4,241 at 14th January. Figures of insured population are not available for employment exchange areas within Greater London; the percentage rate of unemployment in the Greater London Area at 14th January was 1.9.
§ Mr. LiptonDoes not the hon. Gentleman agree that the figure of 4,200 for the Brixton employment exchange is much worse than in many places already scheduled as development districts by the Government under the Local Employment Act? Does he also agree that to try to gloss over this horrifying state of affairs by saying that over the whole of the Greater London area there are only 1.9 per cent. unemployed is playing with the situation? When will he get down to the business of creating a situation in which the so-called prosperous South is not worse than many development districts?
§ Mr. WhitelawI have not sought to gloss over any figures. As to the remainder of what the hon. Member says, I should not think that to schedule Brixton as a development district would give much satisfaction to many of his hon. Friends.
§ Mr. LiptonIt would give a lot of satisfaction to the 4,200 unemployed.