HC Deb 24 February 1971 vol 812 cc738-46

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Humphrey Atkins.]

3.10 a.m.

Mr. Roy Mason (Barnsley)

We are now in the eighteenth hour of my working day. This is my third shift, after having started out at 9 o'clock yesterday morning. We are on no overtime pay and if any body of workers ought to be recognised in industrial relations it is Members of Parliament. We need our own trade union.

Nationally we have now reached the frightening, and to many people soul-destroying, unemployment figure of 721,000. Worse still, it is a trend that is moving upwards and shows no sign of levelling out. If there is no distinct change in Government policy we might have 1 million unemployed by the end of the year. Because the increase in[...]nemployment is outstripping the Government's efforts to curb inflation, we must all recognise that unemployment is now becoming an urgent economic and social problem. Only specific measures by the Government can stop this trend escalating to a pitch that will bring back the grim memories of the 1930s.

The nation is stagnant; growth is not forthcoming; investment is down and manpower is being wasted. What is more, misery among families is on the increase. For all this to change, there will have to be an alteration in this deliberate policy which is encouraging a spiral of price increases and which is sparking off high wage demands. Understandably, the unions want a safeguard against the rate of inflation, and consequently are requesting a built-in buffer against a quick wage erosion.

If there is one factor that is the cause of the present inflation more than any other, it is runaway prices—and not until this is curbed shall we get a slow down in the unemployment figures. That is where the Government will have to begin before unions will co-operate in a sensible anti-inflation policy wherein growth can be planned and industry can have faith to invest, and then employment will pick up.

This morning I am particularly concerned with the serious levels of unemployment in Barnsley and the coal zone of Yorkshire. Last month we had 5.3 per cent. unemployment in the Barnsley area, and the figures for February show a rise to 5.6 per cent.—an increase of 300 people out of work, bringing the total up to 3,929.

In the Yorkshire and Humberside region there was also an increase in the last month and there are now 69,635 unemployed there. The Barnsley percentage is well over the national average: 5.6 per cent. against a national average of 3.1 per cent. There is a need for some fresh and urgent initiative by the Government to encourage present employers to expand and new employers and industries to come into the district.

Four problems which cause me concern. First, the industrial development certificate policy is not working, in spite of the fact that we now have intermediate area status with extra incentives for industrialists to come to our town. On 1st February the Under-Secretary to the Department of Trade and Industry revealed to me that 22 I.D.Cs. were granted in 1969, but the number dropped to 18 in 1970. The estimated additional employment for males in 1969 from 22 I.D.Cs. was 370, and from the 18 I.D.Cs. granted in 1970 it was 130. That meant some 40 I.D.Cs. were employing only 500 men—approximately 12 men each. There is not much hope in this development. On this basis I.D.C. policy is too slow in operation and is not even scratching the surface of the problem.

Secondly, every pit has now closed in the Barnsley borough. Nearly 1,000 ex-miners are unemployed, and even though the Labour Government alleviated the hardship of miners over 55 years of age with a special financial benefit which gave them up to 90 per cent. of their previous take-home pay for three years, this scheme is coming to an end for many of the men. Hence, there is a new problem involving hundreds of ex-miners between 58 and 65 having to resign themselves to dole queues for the rest of their lives, existing on social security benefits, with no hope, no work. They are experienced, versatile. reliable men, and they are doomed to the labour scrap heap. In the coal zone of Yorkshire, already 1,400 are affected in this way, and there are 3,729 miners of all age groups who are unemployed in the coal zone of the county as well.

Thirdly, in a survey of the future of the Yorkshire coalfield, the National Coal Board has revealed that, because of the exhaustion of reserves alone—by which is meant completely worked out seams; it has nothing to do with pits which may close because they are uneconomic or because of geological difficulties—29 pits will close in the next 10 years, affecting at least another 17,000 men.

The Yorkshire coalfield is necessary. Of that, there is no doubt. It has a future beyond the year 2000, especially feeding the big coal-fired power stations in and around the county area. But the problem of closures through exhaustion and its additional appalling effects upon employment having been seen, planning for alternative industrial employment should now begin.

The fourth problem is the working of the new Industrial Training Scheme, which was specially designed to train unemployed workers over 45 years of age. So far, it has proved useless. Within the climate of inflation, employers fear high wages. Therefore, they are finding means of shedding labour rather than setting men on. In my area, not one firm so far has taken in one man under the scheme, in spite of the incentive of £10 per man per week while he is being trained.

To sum up, the problems are escalating unemployment, the fact that the I.D.C. policy is virtually useless in overcoming it, the special problem of older unemployed mineworkers and the fact that the Industrial Training Act is just not working, and the looming spectre of 29 pit closures by 1980. In view of all this, I propose that the Government should treat the present and future threat of increased unemployment in Barnsley and the coal zone of Yorkshire as a matter requiring urgent attention.

First, they should declare the whole zone as one of development status. The Minister must realise that, having granted special development area status to parts of the North-East, Yorkshire is likely to be by-passed because of these additional incentives. Indeed, it is likely to kill or at least neutralise the intermediate status that we acquired last year.

Secondly, we should consider new capital projects in the coal mining industry of Yorkshire. Kellingley colliery is an example. We need a large mine to produce between 1½ and 2 million tons per year with high productivity and relatively cheap power station coal. What about a new super-mine to tap the 7 ft. thick coal seam that runs from Kellingley through to the coastline: a new investment in coal, a new investment in the county. and 1,000 men's jobs?

Thirdly, the Government and the Coal Board might consider the reopening of Thorne colliery. There, £3 million of investment would be required for new winding gear and an underground transport system. This, too, would result in another 750 to 1,000 jobs. Alternatively, because both cannot be done, especially because Thorne colliery reserves are under it, the Government might consider Thorne waste as a site for a new major airport to serve the county and relieve pressure on others in the North of England. Certainly this would boost employment and revitalise the region.

Fourthly, the Government should consider encouraging a new growth labour-intensive industry to come to the coal zone of Yorkshire. A car manufacturing plant or a bus assembly plant, even the projected Ford engine factory, would be welcome in the Yorkshire county.

What about a new power station to follow Drax 2? We have the water, the fuel and the manpower. There would be 2,500 jobs during construction and 750 thereafter. If necessary, a new power station could be tied to the new super-mine and if there were a deliberate investment decision by the Government, the National Coal Board and the C.E.G.B. to do this, it could rejuvenate the coal zone and quickly make an impact on the serious level of unemployment.

In the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Strategy Report, prepared by the Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Council, reference is made to the serious situation in the coalfield—Doncaster, Hemsworth, South Kirby, Dearne Valley and the Five Towns. My hon. Friends the Members for Dearne Valley (Mr. Edwin Wainwright) and Pon- tefract (Mr. Harper) are present tonight because of the serious question of unemployment in their areas.

There is a special reference to Barnsley in paragraph 135: A reduction in labour demand is expected as a result of a continuing decline of employment in coalmining and a substantial shortage of male jobs is likely. In our report 'Employment Prospects in the Yorkshire Coalmining Areas', we recognised that the situation in Barnsley was particularly urgent. It is still urgent and it is getting worse.

There is too much migration of young adults, professional workers and non-manual workers. Prospects for school-leavers are depressing. The elderly unemployed coal miner is destined to tread the streets hopelessly searching for work until ultimately he loses his pride and his soul. The after-effects of being dependent on a mono-economy in the area for so long are now hurting. New industries are badly needed and only by Government decree are these awful trends to be arrested.

Giving us full development status would help, and the extra financial incentives might start an inflow of industry. We have the sites and the manpower. Now it has become so desperate that we do not want just sympathy and hope from the Minister tonight—we want direct action.

3.22 a.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Anthony Grant): I am glad to have the opportunity, even at this late hour, to discuss the problems of employment in Barnsley and the Yorkshire coalfield. I agree with the right hon. Member for Barnsley (Mr. Mason) that the unemployment there is far too high. I hope that he will accept that I and my colleagues view this with very great concern, but in part what he said was a damning indictment of the economic policies of the previous Government for the last three years, and in part a recognition of the inevitable changes and restructuring of traditional industries.

I do not accept that the I.D.C. policy is not working. I regard this as an essential weapon of regional policy and I will administer it in that way. But one must recognise that, if there is a shortage of mobile industry, as there is at the moment, I.D.C.s will simply not be applied for. However, I would emphasise to the Yorkshire intermediate area that I.D.C.s will be made freely available if industry is found to go there.

Also, I do not entirely accept what the right hon. Gentleman said about training. This is a major problem, which the Government view with concern. The plight of the elderly miner who is redundant is one which I consider with great anxiety, but the right hon. Gentleman will recall that, on 4th November, 1970—I refer him to column 383 of HANSARD—the Secretary of State for Employment announced in answer to a Question that the Government intended to give a new emphasis to training to help the unemployed, and he set out four important developments, starting from 1st January, 1971. I will not read them out now, but they indicate a determination on the part of the Government to tackle this seriously. I very much hope that this will have the necessary effect of speeding up this important and difficult retraining work.

Dealing with Thorne airport, it is a matter primarily for local interests to decide in the first instance whether detailed studies into the feasibility of developing a major airport at Thorne-Goole are required. The Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Council, which considered this question in the light of the refusal of planning permission for the extension of Leeds-Bradford Airport, concluded that, since there was no evidence that Manchester Airport would reach saturation before the 1980s, there was no urgent need to study alternative sites for airports east of the Pennines. It also considered that detailed studies, which would be required before the heavy capital expenditure involved in constructing a major airport could be incurred, would be essentially a matter in the first instance for the local planning authorities concerned.

I emphasise that the viability of a new major airport on the Thorne-Goole site would depend on there being an adequate demand for air services. This is absolutely essential. It is only right that I should give the House the Government's view in this respect. which is that, while there is no reason why local interests should not pursue this matter as they think fit, we largely take the view of the Yorkshire and Humberside Economic Planning Council that the scheme is essentially a long-term one.

As to the possibility of it being developed into an intercontinental airport of some sort as an alternative to London, this is a matter upon which I should prefer not to pass judgment since we will be debating the Roskill Commission's Report next week.

I turn now to the coal industry, the restructuring of which is one of the major reasons for the difficulties cited by the right hon. Gentleman. Coal has a vital part to play in meeting the energy requirements of Great Britain. In common with other coal producing areas the Yorkshire coalfield has had to face major problems in the restructuring of this industry and the manpower consequences of modernisation and re-equipment. Nevertheless, the Yorkshire coalfield, providing that it is efficient and competitive, has a good future before it. The National Coal Board has, no doubt, been considering the points which the right hon. Gentleman has raised about the development of coal in the region. This is a part of Britain in which coal has a future, provided it is efficiently and economically produced.

I was interested to observe that the Board was engaging in recruiting campaigns, which is an encouraging sign. However there is a need for new industry. Industry is needed which can utilise the innate adaptability and capacity for hard work which has always been characteristic of this area. There are no quick solutions. It would be wrong to say that the solution could be found overnight. Before new industry can begin to flow in on any scale we must strengthen the weakness in the economy which was our legacy from the previous Administration. We must do this so that industry can make confident plans for the future.

The right hon. Gentleman suggested that the present intermediate area should be designated a development area. I remind him that it is less than a year—it was on 5th March, 1970—that she area was designated an intermediate area. It is, therefore, early days to judge how it is working out in its present status.

The recent announcement of increased assistance to certain areas of the country which was made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer stems from a detailed examination of the situations and prospects of all areas. The unavoidable conclusion to be drawn from this review was that the policies adopted in recent years has failed to measure up to the worsening problems of some of the older industrial conurbations in the development areas.

Exhibiting over the past two or three years disturbingly high and persistent levels of unemployment, their needs are such that they must be given first priority for the limited supply of mobile industry. For this reason we came to the conclusion that, having been granted intermediate status only a year ago, the right hon. Gentleman's area could not be upgraded. Clearly, the future pattern of assisted areas must reflect changes in the situation in particular areas. However, it is not our intention to make frequent changes, since industry must be given a stable framework on which to base its decisions.

Advance factories have been authorised for Barnsley, Doncaster, Hemsworth and Mexborough at a cost of about £500,000. Sites have been chosen, construction is expected to begin in March and the factories should be ready by about the end of the year. About 300 jobs are expected to be provided intitially in total, but each factory will be capable of expansion to two or three times its original size. It would not be sensible to authorise the construction of further advance factories until it is seen whether the first batch attracts occupiers. However, this may encourage private developers to acquire sites.

I beg hon. Gentleman opposite not to paint a picture of an area in decline and despair. This is an area of great potential and one which has very much to offer to incoming industrialists. The benefits of being an intermediate area have been clearly set out and the right hon. Gentleman has done something to advertise them. I will be doing everything I possibly can to encourage industry to go to the assisted areas, which of course include this area, and my Department will draw the advantages, which are considerable, of Barnsley and Yorkshire to the attention of industrialists. I repeat that no service is done to the people who live in this area to paint a black and miserable picture.

I hope, too, that firms which are already in the area will take into account the substantial Government assistance which can support their expansion plans. This area has good access to other important centres of industry and lies along major rail and motorway routes, being convenient for the Ml and M62. My Department will continue to draw the resources of the area to the attention of appropriate firms on every possible occasion.

Throughout the intermediate areas, industrial development certificates are, in general, freely available for new factory building and extensions. I hope that, against this background, all who have the welfare of the area at heart—and I assure the right hon. Gentleman that I and my colleagues certainly have—will continue their efforts to ensure that its very real advantages are given the publicity they deserve.

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising this problem affecting his constituency and I ask all concerned not to be downhearted but to have confidence in the future and to do everything possible, as I shall, to let the industrial world and potential developers know the great advantages of going to Barnsley and Yorkshire.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-five minutes to Four o'clock a.m.