HC Deb 25 June 1964 vol 697 cc784-5

Further Amendment made: In page 15, line 54 at end insert:

1964 c. 46 The Malawi Independence Act 1964 Paragraph 9 of Schedule 2.

—[Mr. Green.]

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

11.8 p.m.

Mr. G. M. Thomson

I make no apology to the House for saying a few words before the Bill finally receives its Third Reading, because, as has been made amply clear, Clause 17 affects the livelihood, welfare, and prosperity of about 36,000 men, women and children in the City of Dundee.

I think that I am entitled to put on record exactly what the Government are doing by the Bill. I have tried to press as reasonably as possible the Amendments which my hon. Friends and I have suggested, and to give the Government every possible opportunity to allow the measure of protection which is incorporated in Government jute control under the Bill to continue so long as it is necessary to protect employment in the jute industry in Dundee. Tonight, for the third time, the Government have rejected any possibility of being more reasonable and giving that amount of reassurance.

My hon. Friend the Member for Sowerby (Mr. Houghton) put the matter with complete accuracy when he said that what the Government are doing in Clause 17 is to give an ultimatum to the City of Dundee that Government jute control is to end in five years' time. The Minister of State denied again and again, with that charm of his, that this was an ultimatum, but I cannot see how it can be described in any other way. It is as if a landlord of a house were to tell his tenant, "I intend to double your rent, and I give you due notice of doing so, but you must not think that in any circumstances I am giving you an ultimatum."

The Minister looks very pained, but although five years may seem quite a considerable time to him, five years in the life of a city which is dependent to the degree that Dundee is on the jute industry is a relatively short time.

The Minister described with pride how, during the period of the Conservative Government, about 1,200 new jobs had been brought into Dundee under Government assistance of one sort or another. We welcome this, but these 1,200 jobs have been brought in after tremendous efforts over a period of 12 years, whereas what is being proposed in Clause 17 is that 12,000 jobs shall be at peril during the next five years. If the Government's ultimatum is put into full effect, I work it out as meaning that in Dundee efforts must be made by all concerned—the Government, local authorities, and everybody else—to provide approximately 2,400 new jobs each year for the next five years if the effect of the removal of the jute control is to be cancelled out.

That means that in each year, for the next five years, we have to expect to be brought into the city rather more than twice the number of jobs that the Government have succeeded in bringing in during the whole 12 years of their period of office. It is for this reason that I desire, before the Bill finally receives its Third Reading, to put on record the fact that the Government, despite our repeated efforts to persuade them to change their mind, have refused to amend Clause 17, and are, therefore, putting through the House a Bill which puts Dundee's prosperity in peril—and Dundee's prosperity will remain at risk so long as a Conservative Government remain in office.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.