§ 1. Sir A. Meyerasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a ministerial broadcast in English and in Welsh to the people of Wales to explain to every Welsh household the expected consequences for their standard of living of the Government's policies to contain inflation.
§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. John Morris)No, Sir. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's broadcast of 20th August drove the points home.
§ Sir A. MeyerI am very sorry to hear that. Will the Secretary of State not now admit that if inflation is to be conquered there has to be a sharp drop in living standards, including the living standards of Socialist trade unionists? Is he aware that the Government's failure to bring this fact home at an earlier stage is a direct cause of the present record high level of unemployment in Wales? Will he further admit that if the Government persist in their Socialist policies of nationalisation, lavish Government expenditure and vindictive treatment of business, the dole queues next year will be 50 per cent. longer than they are now?
§ Mr. MorrisIn view of the record of the Conservative Party, which the hon. Gentleman supported, I am surprised that he has the face to make the statement that he has now made. I assure him that it is the Government's intention to carry out their policies as expressed in their manifesto, on which they successfully fought the last election. The Government's prime aim is and always has been to cure inflation.
§ Mr. WigleyDoes the Secretary of State agree that with the unacceptably high level of unemployment in many parts of Wales, the immediate need now is a cash injection to create work over the next few months in order at least to alleviate the worst effects of unemployment until the economy can reflate and job opportunities increase?
§ Mr. MorrisI am sure that in that respect the hon. Gentleman will welcome the steps taken by my right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Employment on 24th September with that aim in mind.
§ Mr. Roy HughesWill my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State bear in mind the lavish promises made by the hon. Member for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer) that if we were in the Common Market there would be more jobs and a lot of investment available? In fact, we now have massive unemployment and a decrease in the level of investment.
§ Mr. MorrisWhether we were in or out of the Common Market we would still be faced with the problems of inflation and unemployment. We are determined to conquer both.