HC Deb 10 April 1972 vol 834 cc827-30
4. Mr. Nicholas Edwards

asked the Secretary of State for Wales in what respect the Government measures avail- able for the assistance of industrial development in Wales differ from those available in Scotland.

Mr. Peter Thomas

Existing Government measures and those proposed in the recent White Paper Cmnd. 4942 apply equally to the assisted areas of Wales and Scotland.

Mr. Edwards

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the Highlands and Islands Development Board has found it possible and necessary to vary the designs of standard factories to meet the exceptional problems of the area it covers? Will he assure me that the Government's new approach to regional policy will make possible a similar flexibility in dealing with the often-identical needs of rural Wales, as typified by the example of St. David's Assembly in my constituency?

Mr. Thomas

The design and construction of Government factories in Wales, as in other parts of Great Britain, are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The normal practice is to build for rent only factories which are suitable for a variety of purposes, to avoid difficulties over re-letting. As my hon. Friend will appreciate, it is proposed that there should be a Welsh Industrial Development Executive advised by an Industrial Development Board, and these are matters which those bodies will consider.

Mr. John Morris

Will not the Secretary of State now admit that the budgetary proposals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer are a patent admission of the failure of the Government's policies to date to deal with the tragic unemployment in Wales and, though we welcome them, are they not late in the day? Is he not ashamed of the Government's record on unemployment in Wales?

Mr. Thomas

No. I am fully aware that we inherited an extremely difficult situation and that we have taken measures which should have been taken by the previous Administration. I am also fully aware that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for instance, has reduced taxes by £3,000 million a year, which was the extent to which they were raised by the previous Administration.

8. Sir A. Meyer

asked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he can give an estimate of the differential advantages for investment in Wales, as against investment outside the assisted areas, resulting from the measures announced in the Budget, as compared with the differential advantages existing before June, 1970.

Mr. Peter Thomas

The precise figures depend on the location, the scope and the nature of the individual investment. The regional differential in favour of the assisted areas provided by the new incentives is generally greater than that provided by the incentive system existing in June, 1970.

Sir A. Meyer

With reference to the remarks of the right hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. George Thomas), does my right hon. and learned Friend recall that G. K. Chesterton once gave up his seat on a bus to two ladies? By the same token, will he take comfort from the fact that it has been necessary for no fewer than two of his right hon. Friends to take on the work which he had recently been doing for the party? On a more serious note, does not the reply given by my right hon. and learned Friend show that the Government are more concerned to shield Wales from the world-wide unemployment crisis—and it is a crisis which affects the whole of the industrialised world—than to stick grimly to ideological precepts?

Mr. Peter Thomas

Yes. The Government are determined to deal with the difficult situation which has been growing for some years, and I am certain that the regional measures which have been proposed, together with the major tax cuts and other cuts announced in the Budget, will provide an important stimulus to investment and will be of great benefit to Wales.

Mr. George Thomas

Will the Secretary of State say when he expects unemployment in Wales to be reduced? Since he has carried responsibility the figures have mounted every month. Does the Secretary of State expect a return to the 1970 figures this year?

Mr. Peter Thomas

I obviously cannot give any prognosis of what the figures will be. It is quite clear, however, that the measures which have been introduced by the Government will be a great stimu- lus to investment and modernisation and will assist the employment situation in Wales. Everybody who is concerned with the industrial and economic side of Wales has welcomed these proposals.