West Stirlingshire

HC Deb 24 March 1976 vol 908 cc387-9

9. Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make an official visit to West Stirlingshire.

Mr. William Ross

I have at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Canavan

Will my right hon. Friend please try to arrange a visit to the naval depot at Bandeath in my constituency, where he will be able to see at first hand an ideal site for an industrial estate right in the centre of Scotland, with excellent access by rail, road and sea? Will he support my proposal to the Scottish Development Agency for the development of this site as an industrial estate, in view of the impending closure of the depot and the need for jobs for the 160 Bandeath workers and others in my constituency?

Mr. Ross

Yes. I am aware of my hon. Friend's concern about the proposed phased closure in 1977–78 of the Bandeath establishment to which he has referred. He will appreciate that there is a Minister there today, an Under-Secretary of State for Defence. I am equally aware that my hon. Friend has also written to the SDA and is active on this matter, and I should be glad to support his efforts.

Mr. Younger

Will the Secretary of State remind his hon. Friend that it is the policy supported by his hon. Friend—unplanned defence cuts—that has resulted in the potential loss of many jobs in his constituency?

Mr. Ross

I did not get the feeling that my hon. Friend was exactly supporting the Public Expenditure White Paper last week.

Mr. Gordon Wilson

If the Secretary of State visits West Stirlingshire or any other constituency in Scotland, he will soon find that his failure to fight for Scotland in the Cabinet has led to complete—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman must put his point in the form of a question rather than a statement.

Mr. Wilson

May I invite the Secretary of State to go to West Stirlingshire, where he will find that there will be a complete revulsion on the part of many people against the Labour Party for its failure to cure Scotland's unemployment problems?

Mr. Ross

A week past Monday I was somewhere near Gretna and then I went across Scotland into Carlisle. On Friday I was at John o'Groats and around Caithness and Sutherland. I assure the hon. Gentleman that nothing that occurred there bears out the reactions that the hon. Gentleman has prophesied. I find very considerable concern about the continuing mysteries of the SNP refusing to produce a paper on the consequences, economic and political, of its policies for complete separation.