HC Deb 31 January 1972 vol 830 cc5-6
5. Mr. Gwynoro Jones

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the employment prospects in Wales for 1972.

Mr. Peter Thomas

Employment prospects in 1972 should improve as a result of Government measures to stimulate output.

Mr. Jones

Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that, with only 4,000 new jobs created last year, the situation could hardly be worse? However, will he give an assurance that if unemployment in Wales rises to 60,000 in the next few months he will resign his seat in the Cabinet, and will he tell us whether that will be in February or in March?

Mr. Peter Thomas

As I am sure the hon. Gentleman appreciates from what he has read, there is great anticipation of guided growth in the economy this year and, with the co-operation of all those interested, there is no reason why Wales should not benefit.

Mr. John Morris

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman realise that he is speaking like Mr. Micawber, waiting for something to turn up? How does he intend to explain to the people of Wales why his Government's policy of switching from investment grants to investment allowances has been a miserable failure? Is he aware that in Mid-Glamorgan and Port Talbot average male unemployment is running at 8.9 per cent.? At Cymmer, there are 245 men unemployed—one in five of the insured male population.

Mr. Peter Thomas

I am fully aware of the unemployment figures in Wales, which I consider to be deplorable in human, social and economic terms. But the right hon. Gentleman, who was a member of the last Labour Administration, will appreciate that the policy of deflation pursued by his Government is at the base of many of the difficulties we are facing today. That is why the present Government have pursued a massive policy of reflation, the benefits of which we shall start to see in 1972.

Mr. George Thomas

Is the Secretary of State aware that his policy has collapsed around him, that there are 20,000 people under 25 years of age unemployed in Wales and that as a result of his policies unemployment has increased by 60 per cent.? Is it not about time that the right hon. and learned Gentleman stood on his own two feet and accepted responsibility for the dismal failure of his policy?

Mr. Peter Thomas

No, Sir. The right hon. Gentleman should accept his share of responsibility, because he was a member of the Cabinet during six years of economic stagnation, rising import price controls and runaway inflation, which we inherited.