Economic Prospects (Hansard, 13 October 1975)

§ 10. Sir Raymond Gower
asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will state his estimate of economic prospects in Wales during the next year.

§ Mr. Barry Jones
During the next year the economic prospects in Wales as for 843 the United Kingdom as a whole will depend very largely on the success of the Government's measures to reduce the rate of inflation.

§ Sir Raymond Gower
In view of the answers given by the Secretary of State for Wales to my hon. Friends the Members for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer) and Pembroke (Mr. Edwards) may I ask the hon. Gentleman whether he and his colleagues, and the Government in general, accept any responsibility for the terrible plight, terrible economic position and grotesquely high level of unemployment which the country now faces?

§ Mr. Barry Jones
The problem is world wide, and the nature of the question indicated that at least in the opinion of the hon. Gentleman some of the blame for some of the problems to date rests with Members on the benches opposite. However, I can give the hon. Gentleman a little cheer. As a Member for South Wales, he should not forget the momentum of the M4 road building programme there. By the end of this year £90 million worth of road works will be taking place on 30 miles of motorway in South Wales, and this must inevitably help employment prospects in the road haulage and quarrying areas.

§ Mr. Roy Hughes
Is not the time opportune for the Government to engage in a massive housing drive, bearing in mind that materials are available which do not have to be imported, and many men are in the dole queue? Such a drive would have the effect of taking men out of the dole queue and at the same time curing a social and economic problem.

§ Mr. Barry Jones
There is a housing drive. The Government recognise the problem as it exists in Wales, and in particular in Newport.

§ Mr. D. E. Thomas
Will the hon. Gentleman say how many miles of motorway are planned for North Wales?

§ Mr. Barry Jones
The hon. Gentleman knows that the A55 proposal in terms of the Colwyn Bay area is going to a public inquiry, and when the M4 is finished in South Wales the Welsh Office road priority will be in North Wales, and the dualling of the A55.