§ 11.48 p.m.
§ Mr. Dick Taverne (Lincoln)As I am returning to the subject of unemployment in Lincoln, perhaps I should begin by removing a misapprehension. It may seem that this Adjournment is a device to have a personal say on an issue which the House was discussing all afternoon and evening. I assure hon. Members that it is quite accidental, though fortunate, that I am raising this subject tonight.
Perhaps I should also apologise at the outset for returning to a matter which I raised as recently as 7th April of this year. It may seem soon to return to this topic, and I will not go over the ground again. In any event, the Minister will be well aware of the points I raised then with his colleague the Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. 1302 But the situation has developed since 7th April last and has changed considerably for the worse.
Earlier in the year I requested assisted status for Lincoln. At that stage our unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent. and the Minister pointed out that in terms of full-time unemployed, it was only 4.3 per cent., which did not justify special assistance. He went on to say that Lincoln was attractively situated and was not isolated like, for example, North Humberside. He added that while he would keep the position under review, the long-term outlook for Lincoln was good. I did not consider his answer satisfactory on that ocasion and it has been overtaken by events since that date.
First, the total figures for unemployment in Lincoln have now risen to some 7.8 per cent. at the last count, compared with 6.6 per cent. then. More disturbingly, there has also been a steady rise in the number of wholly unemployed. There has seemed to be an inexorable succession of redundancies. If one counts the partly unemployed as equivalent perhaps to one-fifth of the wholly unemployed—which is in some ways looking at it too favourably—the total figure for wholly unemployed would be well over 6 per cent. and, what is more, hundreds of redundancies have been announced, since the last count was taken, at the firm of Clayton Dewandre, which are not included in the figure.
I realise that our position in Lincoln is unfortunately not unique, and this has been shown by today's debate. But it is and remains worse than many areas which get assistance, and our relative position worsens all the time as further measures are announced which go only to assisted areas.
I want to take up the second and third points of the Minister's reply on that day, 1303 about our attractive location and the long-term prospects. If they were true when the Minister spoke in April, they are not points which can be considered valid at present. Our special position has now, for the first time, been recognised by the East Midlands Economic Advisory Council. The Chairman of the Council, the Duke of Rutland, after a recent visit to Lincoln wrote to the Secretary of State for the Environment and made a number of observations.
Amongst other things, the Chairman said that some middle-sized communities in the East Midlands area were particularly vulnerable. He referred to those which were dependent on heavy engineering, which may not need as much manpower in the future as hitherto, and areas which need light industries or service and distribution industries. He specifically stated that one of the areas where the stresses were highest was Lincoln, an area with longer-term worries which needed modernisation of the communications pattern. Even if its industries recovered, in Lincoln there might still be a decline in the manpower employed compared with former times.
I am delighted that the Chairman of the East Midlands Council has recognised officially the problems I have so often stressed to the Government. I used to think that we had a great deal to gain in the longer term and I shared in the longer-term optimism because of the likely development of Humberside and the building of Humber Bridge. But now the strategic road plans announced a few months ago have left out Lincoln in the period before 1980. The motorways leading from the Humberside area go westward towards the A.1. There is to be no improvement before that date of roads southward to Lincoln or, for that matter, from Lincoln to Newark. There is not to be a by-pass round Lincoln.
What will happen is that traffic will go down the A.15, and the roads will not be capable of dealing with the traffic. The congestion, especially inside Lincoln, will be appalling, and the attraction of Lincoln as a future centre for industry will be that much less. The needs of a modern communications pattern referred to by the Chairman of the East Midlands Council will not be met.
1304 The gravest disquiet is also felt in Lincoln about the new reorganisation of local government. A large number of jobs which would otherwise have come to Lincoln will now no longer be there. This is a matter on which I am pursuing further consultations, because one of the greatest causes of resentment arising on the Government's announcement was the fact that no consultations took place when the alteration from the White Paper was made.
Returning to the question of Lincoln's employment needs, it has been announced by the Government that £162 million will be available for the improvement of the infrastructure in the development and the intermediate areas. Lincoln is in neither category. Our relative position will therefore decline. I ask the Minister to reconsider our request for intermediate status in the light of the further developments. I ask him particularly to consider this because of the increased relative discrimination against Lincoln arising from the measures of special assistance to the assisted areas. I ask for this because I hope that it will lead the Government to look again at the question of road development, which is of the greatest importance to Lincoln's long-term needs. I ask for it also so that the Department of Trade and Industry will recognise, as the East Midlands Economic Advisory Council clearly thinks that it should recognise, that Lincoln is an area to which new industry should be encouraged to go.
If activity picks up in the country generally, I fear that, although many of our firms will recover, the technological developments which have taken place will still leave us with a much higher rate unemployment than we had before.
The second request I make of the Government is for one particular form of assistance additional to what I have already mentioned and which I believe they cannot in all justice refuse. In a letter I received this morning from the Department of the Environment in answer to a letter I wrote on 21st October about the employment situation I was told that Lincoln would not be considered as one of the areas for the special measures of public works. The letter said that, apart from the assisted areas where the special measures are to be concentrated,
other areas will benefit from the Government's continuing programmes designed to 1305 improve infrastructure over the country as a whole, including the road programme, housing improvements and the replacement of out-of-date primary schools.I observe in passing that the road programme improvements do not apply to us.The letter continues:
But most public works of the kind which can be started quickly depend to a large extent on local authorities' own initiative. You may like to suggest to the City Council that they should check to see whether there are any projects which are ready or nearly ready to be begun and, if these qualify for Government grant, check with the East Midlands Regional Director the position over the availability of grant.I received that letter this morning and I at once checked with the Corporation. There is one development which is awaiting a decision. That is the Yarborough School Sports Complex. This is still seen by the Council as a major priority. We would appreciate help with this within the terms of the Minister's letter. I do not expect an answer from the Minister on this question, because it is obviously a matter on which he will have to consult his colleagues, but I ask him to bear it in mind. If he will confirm the letter's statement that the Government are willing to consider grants for schemes not in assisted areas, I shall ask the City Council to put up the projects that would help to provide some of the employment that we need. I hope that the Government will use their influence with the East Midlands Regional Director to see that grants are made available in such cases.Lincoln desperately needs some boost. It was a prosperous city but its prosperity has gone for over 2,000 of its workers and their families. Morale is low, and many people face a bleak Christmas. There are widespread fears that we shall become a ghost town, and that, except for one or two of the remaining firms, we shall be a city with a proud past and a very limited future. It will be no benefit to the nation if such a large proportion of our highly skilled labour force is left frustrated and unused.
§ 11.59 p.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Dudley Smith)I wish to respond in kind, Mr. Deputy Speaker—one is glad to have the opportunity to address you as such, Mr. Mallalieu—to the moderate and, if I may say so, worthwhile speech of the hon. and learned Member for Lincoln (Mr. Taverne). As 1306 he said, he raised this issue last April, and I think it typical of the assiduity with which he represents his constituents that he has brought the matter forward again. Having been lucky enough to gain a place in the ballot for Adjournment debates, he has tonight showed his very real concern about the employment situation in Lincoln, as any good Member of Parliament in such circumstances should do.
The hon. and learned Gentleman argues that unemployment is high and rising, and that Lincoln is probably too dependent on engineering, a point which he has made before, and that it should, therefore, have assisted area status.
The level of unemployment and of short-time working in the Lincoln area is certainly disquieting, and I hope that the House will appreciate that what I have to say is in no way an attempt to belittle the very real problems and difficulties which face the people of Lincoln, especially those who are out of work or losing time, or those who may be about to lose their jobs through redundancies.
Enough has been said already at today's sitting to make absolutely clear that the Government mean to bring unemployment down from its present unacceptably high level over the whole country, and that they have already brought into play a great number of measures to speed up the national economy. When these measures have had time to take effect, they will give a welcome boost to employment.
In all fairness to the hon. and learned Gentleman and his constituents, I must say that the best prospect for Lincoln lies in a revival of the national economy. Many of the firms in the city have been in difficulty because of slack demand in the industries which they supply, such as the motor and aircraft industries, construction and general engineering. While it would be entirely wrong to expect rapid results, the steps which we have taken, for example, tax reductions to help the construction industry, the motor industry, Rolls-Royce and other industries, should all eventually bring direct or indirect benefits to the industries on which Lincoln depends.
Certainly, the unemployment situation in Lincoln now is far from satisfactory, as the hon. and learned Gentleman said. 1307 It is true that the rate of unemployment is higher than it was when he last had an Adjournment debate on the subject. The rate is now 7.8 per cent., compared with 6.6 per cent. in March. But unemployment has, alas, risen in the country as a whole. I must stress, also, that almost one-third of the 4,200 people included in this month's count in Lincoln were not wholly unemployed but were on short time.
Moreover, there are signs that the situation may be a little better than it was last month. Unemployment has dropped from 8 per cent. to 7.8 per cent., a small but none the less welcome improvement, and the number of outstanding vacancies has risen. Since our last debate, the Lincoln firm which supplies Rolls-Royce, which had 700 workers on a four-day week, has now resumed full-time working.
On the question of Lincoln's dependence on engineering, it is true that a fairly large proportion of Lincoln's working population is in mechanical and electrical engineering and vehicles. The proportion is nearly one in four. Engineering naturally accounts for an even bigger share of those employed in manufacturing industries. But this does not necessarily mean that the economy of Lincoln is too narrowly or precariously based. Engineering covers a very wide variety of activities and products, and a wide variety of firms serving other industries. This variety has usually provided some protection for Lincoln from a setback in any one branch of engineering. It must be admitted, however, that when the level of demand is low over the whole economy, having a variety of industry is not so much of a protection. Normally, too, engineering has been one of Britain's biggest growth sectors. I am convinced that we shall return to that situation before long.
While the industrial structure of Lincoln may not have as much variety as the hon. and learned Gentleman and many others would like—and the hon. and learned Gentleman has referred to the need for light industry—at least it is not based on a chronically declining industry, as are so many less fortunate parts of the country. This factor is the crux of the third and very important 1308 matter the hon. and learned Gentleman put to us tonight, his renewed demand for assisted area status for Lincoln. Although the rate of unemployment is at present high in Lincoln, that is a reflection of the state of the general economy. It is not the result of the long-term decay and decline of a basic industry, and we are all glad that it is not.
The level of unemployment may be one criterion for assisted area status, but another important factor is whether the area faces problems of serious structural unemployment. I do not think that that is the situation in Lincoln. The unemployment problem there is recessional, and we can reasonably expect it to be very largely mitigated once the general economy picks up again.
As I have pointed out, one-third of Lincoln's unemployment is because of short-time. The number of people wholly unemployed is below 3,000. This does not approach the numbers unemployed in the great majority of intermediate areas, let alone the development areas. In October the Yorkshire coalfield intermediate area, as one example, had 24,000 wholly unemployed and the North Humberside intermediate area had nearly 10,000.
Lincoln, moreover, is attractively located, with a highly skilled labour force, and does not face the widespread dereliction of the coalfield or the comparative isolation of North Humberside. Nor, despite its difficulties over roads and communications, does its face, as do, for example, Edinburgh, Okehampton and Tavistock, the additional disadvantage of close proximity to development areas—and we know what competition that can bring about.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, who has the responsibility for deciding which parts of the country shall have assisted area status, will certainly take note of what the hon. and learned Gentleman said about the claims of Lincoln and will keep the situation under review. That is not an empty promise. He has, however, to bear in mind the prior claims of those badly hit parts of the country with high chronic unemployment accompanied by serious environmental difficulties. At a time when the supply of mobile industry is very limited, the needs 1309 of these areas must come first. But I shall draw to my right hon. Friend's attention what the hon. and learned Gentleman said, and the remarks made by the Chairman of the East Midlands Council.
What I have said does not mean that either my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry or my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment are unsympathetic towards Lincoln. The policy of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has been to look sympathetically at applications for industrial development certificates in respect of expansion by local firms, and I understand that since 1965 no applications for industrial development certificates for Lincoln have been refused. Indeed, since January, 1967, I understand, 36 such certificates have been issued, giving an estimated additional employment figure of about 1,250.
I am grateful to the hon. and learned Gentleman for drawing our attention to the situation in Lincoln. I assure him we are very much aware of the redundancies which have taken place there this year and the short-time working which is going on. But he will at least admit that two main things have emerged from our debate earlier today. First, there are many parts of the country which have a much higher unemployment rate, both in numbers and percentages, than Lincoln, and with long-term problems of structural unemployment which the regional policies of any Government can solve only over a long period of time and by giving priority to those areas.
Secondly, it has been made clear that the Government recognised early that a great deal of slack had developed in the economy, and over the past twelve months have introduced a massive series of measures to absorb the spare capacity and reduce unemployment. Among these measures were tax reductions, direct aid and public spending which will help, 1310 amongst others, the industries on which Lincoln is particularly dependent, such as motors, the aircraft industry and construction, The effects of these measures are bound to take time to work through, but when they do we shall, I am sure, see not only a return to former prosperity but an advance to higher levels of prosperity, based on the firm foundation which the Government are determined to provide.
I have taken due note of the hon. and learned Gentleman's comments on the letter he received from the Department of the Environment. He was courteous enough to supply me with a copy just before we began the debate. This is the first time I have had the information. I will consult my colleagues in that Department on the points he raised and see that he gets a full answer. Knowing him as I do, I am sure that he will take the initiative which has been suggested in that letter. He has already given an indication that he has done something about it.
The hon. and learned Gentleman rightly referred to the fact that Lincoln has in the past been a prosperous town, and he wants it to remain so. So do we. I think that the prosperity of Lincoln and future employment there are naturally closely bound up with the prosperity of the country as a whole. Whilst I cannot hold out the prospect of special assistance for Lincoln—it would be wrong of me to do so—I am certain that the city will share fully in the national recovery. We shall continue to watch the situation there and so will the Department of Trade and Industry. We are grateful to him for bringing to our attention the various points he raised, which we shall note, and I am confident that in due course he will have no further cause for Adjournment debates on this subject.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at thirteen minutes past Twelve o'clock.