§ 10. Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what further representations he has received to date about the exclusion of Edinburgh from the Scottish Development Area; and what replies he has sent.
§ Mr. ChatawayNone, recently, to my Department on this specific subject. As to the reasons for leaving Edinburgh with intermediate area status, I would refer the hon. Member to the letter sent to him on 11th April by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Industrial Development.
§ Mr. StrangIs the Minister aware that trade unionists, industrialists, and all shades of opinion in Edinburgh bitterly resent the Government's latest decision on the matter? How much longer has male unemployment in Edinburgh to rise faster than that in the rest of Scotland before the Government are prepared to stop discriminating against Edinburgh-based industry?
§ Mr. ChatawayThe hon. Member knows very well the arguments against the diluting of assistance given to development areas, but I hope that he realises that in the Budget and in the subsequent White Paper very substantial measures were announced which will be of direct 13 assistance to intermediate areas such as his own.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneWill my right hon. Friend note that this Question, like so many other Questions, demonstrates the extent to which all these various very complicated grades of development preference seem to be far more effective in stirring up animosity in the areas that do not have them than they are in giving satisfaction in those that do, and will he draw the moral from that state of affairs?
§ Mr. ChatawayWhatever moral one might draw, one would still be left with the recognition that there are very serious problems to be tackled, and we intend to tackle them.