HC Deb 25 October 1971 vol 823 cc1216-7
21. Mr. Tilney

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what further plans he now has for the expansion of industry on Merseyside.

Mr. Anthony Grant

Merseyside with all its inherent advantages is well placed to benefit from the many measures we have taken to stimulate the growth of the economy.

Mr. Tilney

Is it not time that much more specific action was taken to assist an area with over 6 per cent. unemployed, such as a decision by the B.S.C. to expand the Shotton steel works or a decision by the Government to put some new departmental offices on Merseyside? When will the Government make up their minds about the multi-purpose Dee crossing, which will bring so much badly needed amenity to our part of the world?

Mr. Grant

That latter point is one for the Department of the Environment, and I have no doubt that it will take note of what my hon. Friend says. Equally, I have no doubt that the British Steel Corporation will note what my hon. Friend says about Shotton. Generally, my hon. Friend will appreciate that this Government have done more to expand the economy of the country for the benefit of Merseyside than ever before.

Mr. Heffer

Does not the hon. Gentleman realise that the last part of his answer to the supplementary question put to him by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Mr. Tilney) is utter balderdash, and that under a Conservative Government there are now 16,000 more workers unemployed on Merseyside than there were during the period in office of the Labour Government? Does not the hon. Gentleman realise that there are now 51,000 workers unemployed in the Merseyside development area, of whom 46,000 are in the Liverpool travel-to-work area? Is it not clear that the hon. Gentleman's statement is totally complacent, and that the best thing that this Government can do to help Merseyside is to resign at the earliest possible moment?

Mr. Grant

I am by no means complacent. I take very seriously the consequences to Merseyside and elsewhere of the economic policies of the previous Administration. The point that I was making was that the unemployment rate in Merseyside was consistently lower than that of the development areas as a whole. It has an especially favourable location and an absence of severe infrastructure problems compared with many other places. It is because of the position that the Government inherited that they have taken the position that I have described.

Mr. Benn

Do not the original reply and the replies in answer to further supplementary questions indicate that the Government either do not know the position or do not care? If that is the conclusion reached by the public at large, it will take more than the Government's public relation officers to put that impression right.

Mr. Grant

It is perfectly apparent that the Government both know and care.