HC Deb 01 May 1969 vol 782 cc1609-11
44. Mr. MacArthur

asked the Secretary of State for Employment and productivity if she will appoint a committee to investigate the net loss of 35,000 jobs in Scotland in four years.

The Under-Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity (Mr. E. Fernyhough)

All the bodies concerned with economic development in Scotland are well aware of the problem presented by the decline in employment, which would have been much greater had the Government's regional policies not operated, and the reasons for the decline, are well understood. I do not think a committee of investigation would be able to shed more light on the problem.

Mr. MacArthur

Will not the Minister recognise that there is an overwhelming need for a most serious investigation of this grave problem? Is he aware that the Government promised an increase of 60,000 jobs net in Scotland for next year, whereas Scotland over that period has lost 35,000 jobs. Is he aware that the Government's honour is at stake? Would he take some action to investigate the grave loss of employment which has followed the hollow promise of the Government?

Mr. Fernyhough

I am aware of what the Government have promised. I am equally aware of what the right hon. Member for Leeds, North-East (Sir K. Joseph) said in Glasgow recently. He said that they had failed to take action in sufficient time to meet the rundown in basic industry in Scotland, that they had failed to use taxation properly, and that they had neglected the need for new roads and communications. He recognised that if his Administration had done in Scotland what they should have done, the problem facing us would have been considerably less.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

As the hon. Gentleman has failed completely to understand the point of my hon. Friend's question, will be explain why there was a gain of 30,000 jobs in Scotland during the four years before the present Government took office?

Mr. Fernyhough

There may have been a gain in jobs, but unemployment was higher in the last four years of the Conservative Administration than it has been under this Administration.

Mr. James Hamilton

Would my hon. Friend refer right hon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite to an editorial in a Scottish newspaper which is not usually congratulatory to the Government, stating that the Government should be congratulated on the work that they have carried out in Scotland? Is my hon. Friend aware that, bearing in mind the decline of the older industries in Scotland, trade unionists are fully aware of the large number of jobs which have been brought to the country and which will bear fruit in the future? Is he further aware that, on that basis, we on this side of the House recognise that the Government are doing a good job for Scotland?

Mr. Younger

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that his complacent reply does not conceal the fact that the Government have failed to do what they said they would do in 1966? Is he further aware that the position as regards male employment is even worse in that there was a loss of 60,000 jobs?

Mr. Fernyhough

I am conscious that if new industry had gone to Scotland in the last four years of the former Administration at the pace at which it has in the last four years of this Government, the economic basis of Scotland would have been much more viable.

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