§ 17. Mr. Strangasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the evidence that the major cause of the increase in unemployment is the high level of pay settlements since the autumn of 1969.
§ Mr. BarberYes, Sir. I will give it now. Firms are forced to economise in their use of labour, our exports become less competitive, imports take the place of home production, and investment programmes are cut back. In these and other self-evident ways, excessive pay settlements cause unemployment.
§ Mr. StrangIs the Chancellor of the Exchequer aware that by no stretch of the imagination can that answer be called evidence? Can he produce any evidence to indicate that recent redundancies have been concentrated in those industries which have granted the highest pay settlements?
§ Mr. BarberIf the hon. Gentleman will talk privately to both sides of industry 1066 he will find that leaders in the trade union movement no less than management will confirm that what I have said is true.
§ Mr. SheldonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that what he said is quite different from what he said in his Budget statement. He is now squarely laying the blame on excessive imports arising from the difficulties of exporting firms. This will lead to the consequence that the problem is in exports alone. In view of the present balance of payments situation, is not this rather a surprising conclusion?
§ Mr. BarberNo, Sir, I did not say that. I gave a list of factors which are causing unemployment at the present time.