HC Deb 20 January 1976 vol 903 cc1120-2
8. Mr. Crawford

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what further measures he is taking to alleviate unemployment in Scotland.

Mr. John Fraser

Scotland is already benefiting from the measures announced on 24th September and 17th December 1975, which were designed to mitigate the worst effects of unemployment throughout Great Britain by helping up to 120,000 people obtain jobs which, otherwise, they would not have had. In addition, the whole of Scotland has development area or special development area status.

Mr. Crawford

Is the Minister not aware that, in the light of today's unemployment figures, the Scottish people regard the Government's measures as a black farce? Regional development has been an almost total failure in Scotland. Does the Minister agree that the only way to bring Scottish unemployment levels down to the 1 per cent. and 2 per cent. of Norway, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland is to give the Scottish Assembly total control over trade and industry in Scotland and the Scottish Development Agency? Does he agree that the Scottish people, on their own, could do no worse in running their own affairs and economy than this House and London are doing for them?

Mr. Fraser

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman that by a wave of the wand the situation in Scotland could be immediately transformed to the situation in Norway and Switzerland. If he believes that, he is fooling himself. If he does not believe it, he is fooling the Scottish people whom he purports to represent. Regional policy has meant that unemployment in Scotland has risen less than in the United Kingdom. That measure has had a real and substantial effect on alleviating some of the worst aspects of unemployment.

Mr. Buchan

Does my hon. Friend accept that others in Scotland, who are seriously concerned about unemployment, as opposed to those who are concerned with making cheap propaganda points, recognise that the problem that we have in Scotland is even worse in the North of England and the same as the North-West of England, and that it would be worsened were we to proceed with the mad policies of the Scottish National Party?

Does he further agree that enough is enough, that these figures are as unacceptable in Scotland as they are in the North and North-West of England, and that the time has come for an entire change in Government economic policy and for a measure of reflation designed to improve the situation?

Mr. Fraser

I agree that unemployment in Scotland is rather less than in the contiguous area of the North of England. That is why it is nonsense to suggest that because of some greater degree of devolution the economies would diverge in a much sharper way.

On the second point, my right hon. and hon. Friends have made it clear that as soon as the conditions for reflation are possible we shall try to get the economy going more quickly.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

Will the hon. Gentleman bring the figure of 162,000 unemployed to the attention of the Secretary of State for Scotland, who, in Opposition, said that if the figure reached 100,000 the honourable course for a Secretary of State for Scotland to adopt would be to resign?

Secondly, bearing in mind that a major slice of unemployment in Scotland has been the result of cut-backs in State-owned industries, with more in the pipeline in the steel industry, will my hon. Friend consider whether it is in the interests of workpeople in Scotland to spend what money is available on further nationalisation instead of job creation?

Mr. Fraser

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will tell the House the degree of increased public expenditure in Scotland that he is prepared to support. To get the matter in perspective, the unemployment figures for this month are unacceptably high. However, I should point out that the rise in Scotland, on a seasonally adjusted basis, has been not 1.4 per cent., but 0.2 per cent. A large part of the rise is accounted for by those leaving school at the beginning of the Christmas holidays and students who registered as unemployed for the purpose of obtaining social security.