HC Deb 21 February 1973 vol 851 cc444-6
3. Mr. Robert Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Economic Planning Council on the Scottish economy.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

I presume that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the Scottish Economic Council of which I am chairman. The Scottish economy is regularly discussed at council meetings, the most recent occasion being on 9th February.

Mr. Hughes

Does not the Secretary of State recall that there have been over 100,000 redundancies in Scotland since he took office? Has he nothing better to say than simply that things are under discussion?

Mr. Campbell

The hon. Gentleman is on a completely wrong point, because there were also many redundancies under his Government. One of the criticisms has been that modernisation did not take place as fast as it should have done in previous years. Modernisation must mean redundancies. The important point is whether there are job losses or job gains. I am glad to say that in the period when I was a Minister in the previous Conservative Government——

Mr. John Smith

What about this one?

Mr. Campbell

I am coming to that. When I was a Minister in the previous Conservative Government the gains considerably exceeded the losses in jobs, though there were redundancies. That has not happened on this occasion, but we are now fortunately seeing a brighter future and I hope that we can attain what we attained before.

Mr. Grimond

Why does not the right hon. Gentleman set up a proper Scottish development authority? Why does he not follow the Norwegian example and take more from the oil companies and finance the authority partly from those royalties?

Mr. Campbell

For the simple reason that if it is a proper authority which has powers and money to spend I cannot set it up. That would have to be done by a Bill passed by Parliament, and time would have to be found for it. I want to act quickly. It is only a year and a half since the first oil was found in Scotland in commercial quantities. I intend to act quickly, and I have acted quickly. That is why the Scottish Petroleum Office was set up as quickly, and it will be acting very soon.

Mr. Hughes

The Secretary of State acted quickly when he took office, and that action led to massive redundancies and a change in Government policy. Is it not late, two years after the event, to be saying that he is now taking action to create more jobs?