§ 1. Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how he arrived at his assessment that unemployment will not double during the tenure of office of the present Government.
§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade (Mr. John Davies)Because of the very substantial measures taken by the Government to stimulate the economy.
§ Mr. SkinnerIs the Secretary of State aware that just before Christmas one of the Under-Secretaries of State now sitting near him said that unemployment would not double during the lifetime of this Parliament? On Thursday, figures will be published which may well show that unemployment has in fact doubled. That, however, is pure speculation, but I may be able to help the right hon. Gentleman on a much more topical issue. Will he trot along to Hobart House and tell Derek Ezra that according to all the speculation we are getting from the "Think Tank" he should ensure that there will be 300,000 jobs for the British miners over the next ten years; and that the way to do that is to pay them in accordance with the wage demand made by the National Union of Mineworkers?
§ Mr. DaviesI understand that this matter will be fully debated tomorrow.
§ Mr. Tom BoardmanWill my right hon. Friend recall that during the period of the Labour Administration the level of unemployment nearly doubled, and is it not quite inappropriate to take note of advice from or criticism by the Labour Party, whose policies led to the present level of unemployment?
§ Mr. DaviesYes, Sir. The number of registered unemployed in Great Britain more than doubled between June, 1966, and June, 1970.
§ Mr. BennCan the Minister give the House the Government's forecast of the date at which unemployment will fall to the level at which it stood when the present Administration came into power?
§ Mr. DaviesI have always been very unwilling to give specific forecasts of unemployment.
§ Mr. SwainIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the Chesterfield travel-to-work area, which is classed as being the industrial centre of England, unemployment has gone up since the advent of the present Government from 3¼ per cent. to 7 per cent., and that it is drastically rising all the time?
§ Mr. DaviesThe level of unemployment in Chesterfield, as in many other parts of the country, is a matter of very grievous concern to me. As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am doing all I humanly can to try to correct the situation.