§ 38. Mr. Sheldonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his latest estimate of the increase in industrial investment during 1970.
§ Mr. John DaviesI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Heywood and Royton (Mr. Barnett) on 16th November.—[Vol. 806, c. 319.]
§ Mr. SheldonBut since that reply was equally unsatisfactory, would the right hon. Gentleman not consider that it is about time that he came up with proposals for improving industrial investment here and now, and not some time later, when the Government's dreamy hopes may have come to a successful conclusion? What is he doing about industrial investment here and now?
§ Mr. DaviesCertainly not indulging in dreamy hopes. The arrangements which the Government have produced are, as the hon. Gentleman knows, part of a general plan of action. One of the major problems lies, of course, in the question of liquidity, where the proposals of the Government in relation to corporation tax should have a real effect.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneWould my right hon. Friend not agree that with the present rates of wage costs and inflation it is inevitable that the margins for future investment should be further eroded, and if hon. Gentlemen opposite are concerned about levels of investment, should they not direct some of their concern to their paymasters in the trade union movement?
§ Mr. DaviesI certainly concur that the current wage inflation is undoubtedly having a very deterring effect on the prospects for investment and that any relief of that would have a signally advantageous effect on the whole outlook.