§ 8. Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps he is currently taking, and what steps he proposes to take, to stimulate industrial investment on Merseyside.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieWe shall continue to do everything we can to stimulate industrial investment in the area.
§ Mr. Kilroy-SilkThat is really not enough, and not a satisfactory answer. Is my hon. Friend aware that unemployment on Merseyside is well above that of the national average and that, in particular, in Kirby the male unemployment rate is 25 per cent.? Does he accept that the people on Merseyside did not return a Labour Government in order that they should be put on the dole, and that the area should now be regarded as a crisis area? Will my hon. Friend make an urgent review of the whole of the Merseyside area, with a view to taking specific and relevant measures for the industrial regeneration of that area?
§ Mr. MackenzieI appreciate my hon. Friend's concern, as I appreciate the concern of all my hon. Friends who represent constituencies in the Merseyside area. I believe that the measures that we have introduced—especially the measures that I announced the other day about the advance factory programme—will be of considerable value to Merseyside, in terms both of the advance factory programme itself and of the construction industry, in which, I know, unemployment is of much concern to my hon. Friends who represent the Merseyside area.
§ Mr. HefferAdvance factories in themselves, especially if they are left empty for about a year, are no answer to the immediate problem. Is it not clear that Merseyside is an area which requires immediate action of the kind suggested by my hon. Friend the Member for Ormskirk (Mr. Kilroy-Silk)? Will my hon. Friend look again at this problem, especially in terms of the construction industry? No fewer than 13,000 construction industry 1236 workers on Merseyside are unemployed. There are 22,000 people on the housing list in Liverpool alone. Surely this is a time when the Government really must introduce a crash programme to deal with areas like Merseyside.
§ Mr. MackenzieI am sure that my hon. Friend knows that the latter part of his question should be directed to my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction. However, we are genuinely concerned about the problems of Merseyside and its high unemployment rate, especially in the construction industry. Like my hon. Friend, I share great hopes for the National Enterprise Board, which I believe can be of considerable value to the people who live on Merseyside. A regional office of the Board will shortly be set up in Liverpool, and I am sure that this will be of great value to the area.