§ 19. Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received from the Scottish Trades Union Congress on Government development area policies; and what reply he has sent.
§ 31. Mr. Eadieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will seek to hold an early meeting with the Scottish Trades Union Congress to discuss Government policies.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellI have arranged to meet representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress General Council in Edinburgh in two days time, on Friday, 10th July. I look forward to a useful exchange of views at this meeting on a variety of matters affecting the Scottish economy. I have received no representations from the S.T.U.C.
§ Mr. SillarsIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the people of Scotland are most concerned and very apprehensive about the possible development area policies that will flow from a Conservative victory? Will he note that since the start of the present Parliament details have not been given to the Scottish people, and that it is essential that they be given as soon as possible?
§ Mr. CampbellIf there is any disquiet, it is the result of misrepresentations made about our policies by right hon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite. I noted that at the S.T.U.C. conference in Scotland in March this year doubts were publicly expressed about the indiscriminate nature of the present system of investment grants, and that these are shared by the T.U.C. I shall listen carefully to the views they now express. How the hon. Gentleman can speak about details being given at this stage when his party announced the selective employment tax without any warning five weeks after a General Election at which it had never been mentioned, I find difficult to understand.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Long answers, too, mean fewer Questions.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneCould my right hon. Friend explain how it is, in view of the disquiet hon. Members opposite have been discovering about the Government's development intentions, that we have had the first major development with a prospect of a substantial number of male jobs in Tayside for five years announced within a week of the present Government taking office?
§ Mr. CampbellI have already publicly welcomed the announcement of that development.
§ Mr. William HamiltonDoes the right hon. Gentleman still stick to the principle of growth points as against the development area concept? Can he give a categorical undertaking that his Government will not spend less on regional development 656 in Scotland than the previous Government?
§ Mr. CampbellThat is an example of the misunderstanding or misrepresentation to which I referred. There has never been any question of growth points being an alternative to development area policies. The growth point principle is simply one method to be used within the development areas, which we have stated are to remain the same. The cost is extraordinarily difficult to foresee, particularly when one of the anti-development area measures of the last Government—select employment tax—took so much money out of Scotland.
§ Mr. BrewisWill my right hon. Friend discuss with the Scottish Trades Union Congress the loss of 35,000 jobs in Scotland over the last five years and how this tendency can be reversed?
§ Mr. CampbellThis is the basis of the problem. We want the money used to have effective results and to produce many more jobs.
§ Mr. BuchanWould the right hon. Gentleman answer the simple point which was put? Would he give a guarantee that there will not be a drop in the amount of public money given to developing industries in Scotland? That is a simple question; we need a simple answer.
§ Mr. CampbellThe hon. Gentleman will have heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday explain that all this needs to be looked at as part of the general financial situation. If the hon. Gentleman expects me to be able to answer that question within about two weeks of taking office, he cannot understand how government should be carried out.