HC Deb 20 January 1976 vol 903 cc1111-3
2. Mr. David Steel

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what effects on employment prospects he expects will flow from the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies and the National Enterprise Board.

27. Mr. Henderson

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what effects on employment prospects he expects will flow from the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies and the National Enterprise Board.

The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Michael Foot)

The Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies and the National Enterprise Board are all charged with the provision, maintenance and safeguarding of employment in their respective spheres. I and my right hon. Friends are confident that their activities will make a significant contribution to strengthening the economy of the United Kingdom, with consequential improvements in employment prospects. The further extremely serious rise of 42,000 announced today in the seasonally adjusted level of unemployment, to a total, for the United Kingdom, of 1,205,000, makes this contribution the more urgent.

Mr. Steel

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that these organisations will bring benefit, at best, in the long term and offer no comfort to the number of unemployed he has just announced—in particular, to the 162,000 unemployed in Scotland? Does he realise that as far as the House is concerned the stronger and stronger adjectives he uses each month, as the figures increase, are no substitute for a policy? As the Secretary of State for Scotland told us some time ago that he would resign if the figures reached 100,000, what new figure has to be reached before the right hon. Gentleman and the Secretary of State for Scotland both resign?

Mr. Foot

What is required to deal with the problem is a long-term policy, a short- to medium-term policy and an immediate policy. The long-term policy and, perhaps, the medium-term policy, can be greatly assisted by provisions under the National Enterprise Board. The short-term measures announced by the Government in September and prior to Christmas can have immediate effects that are of advantage. I fully appreciate the deep anxiety expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Heffer) and others on the earlier Question, but I believe that in the medium term what is required is a general expansion in the economy as soon as we are able to effect it. The sooner we can reach that stage the better.

Mr. Henderson

Is the Secretary of State aware that he will be judged not by the kindness of the words he utters in the House but by results? The figure of 162,000 unemployed in Scotland is totally unacceptable to the people of Scotland. Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that it will be seen in Scotland that all the words we have heard in the last few days about the advantages of remaining in the United Kingdom, under centralised control of the economy, are totally irrelevant to Scotland's needs?

Mr. Foot

Of course, the figure for Scotland is a terrible one, but the same problem applies in many other parts of the United Kingdom, so it is not a solely Scottish problem. What we need are policies which are effective all over the United Kingdom, and not solely in one part.

Mr. Sillars

Is my right hon. Friend aware that Socialists in Scotland are as appalled by the 1.4 million as they are by the 162,000? Will he confess that the Labour Cabinet is using unemployment as one method of managing a capitalist economy? Will he tell us how we can honour the Labour Party's pledge to shift the balance of wealth and power in favour of the working people when we are heading for a figure of 1.5 million unemployed?

Mr. Foot

I repudiate the statement by my hon. Friend that the Government are using unemployment as an instrument for controlling the economy. We wish to see effective measures taken to deal with unemployment. The direct measures that the Government have taken and the measures for dealing with inflation are designed to help deal with that problem.

Mr. Prior

Is the Secretary of State aware that no one in the House can any longer have confidence in the words he utters from the Dispatch Box? Time and again, when the monthly unemployment figures are announced, he expresses sorrow, but is he aware that his Government and his policy are totally responsible for what has happened? Does he realise that the public are now reaping the whirlwind of the Government's policy of allowing inflation to rip so as to win a General Election.

Mr. Foot

Unemployment on the appalling scale indicated by these figures applies not only in this country but in most of the Western world. Indeed, the disease in most of the other countries is even more virulent that it is here. It is nonsense for the right hon. Gentleman to say that the Labour Government are responsible for it. We are seeking to cure it.

Mr. Flannery

Does my right hon. Friend accept that, whether it be in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, more and more people are becoming unemployed, and that if the buying power of the working people is reduced they cannot buy the commodities they used to buy, and so the people who pro-due those commodities are put out of work? That is why the accusation is made about using unemployment to restore the balance. Does my right hon. Friend realise that the answer is to begin to reflate the economy and impose properly organised import controls, and not to continue with the Conservative policy that is now being carried out by the Labour Government?

Mr. Foot

I do not accept what my hon. Friend said in the first part of his supplementary question. If we had not taken steps to control the rate of inflation a few months ago the danger of unemployment would be even worse that it is at present and the chance of reaching the moment when we would be able to reflate successfully would be further postponed. No one in the House is more eager than I am to reach the point when we shall be able to reflate successfully and so deal with the fundamental problem.