HC Deb 28 February 1977 vol 927 cc6-7
5. Mr. Wyn Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit the Llandudno-Conway area.

The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. John Morris)

I shall be visiting Llandudno towards the end of May.

Mr. Roberts

Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that the unemployment of young people is a grave problem in that area and that there were 500 young people employed in Gwynedd last month, many of them having been without a job for a considerable time? Will he assure us that he will encourage all the authorities concerned to take every possible step to ensure that the work experience, job creation and community industry programmes are taken full advantage of?

Mr. Morris

Certainly I would always give every encouragement to the take-up of those schemes. As regards the situation in the hon. Gentleman's own constituency, much as one deplores the levels of youth unemployment, there have been improvements. In Conway, 156 youths were unemployed on 12th August last year; the figure had fallen to 133 in January and to 115 on 10th February. The equivalent figures for Bangor were 148, 56 and 49. Of course, there is still more work to be done.

Mr. D. E. Thomas

When the right hon. and learned Gentleman goes to Llandudno, will he at a particular roundabout turn left and take the A470 south through Blaenau Ffestiniog, which he last visited officially in April 1974? Going through it, will he stop and get out of his official car so as to survey the now derelict site of the Blaenau Ffestiniog 50,000 sq. ft. advance factory—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I let the hon. Member get so far, but I am worried that at any moment he will be inviting the Secretary of State to Tonypandy.

Mr. Morris

Without transgressing the rules of order, I would say that the hon. Gentleman must know of the enormous efforts which have been made to get a tenant for the advance factory that he has in mind. He will also know that a substantial effort has been put into the clearing of derelict land.

Mr. Kinnock

In any case, whether in Llandudno or anywhere else, will my right hon. and learned Friend keep on turning left, which is always a great direction in which to travel? Will he be going to Llandudno to attend the annual conference of the Labour Party in Wales? If so, is he aware that several motions have been tabled calling for the restoration of those cuts in public expenditure which the Government have already felt obliged to implement? Would that not be a lesson for the hon. Member for Conway (Mr. Roberts), who makes a plea about unemployment and simultaneously favours a policy that would increase it?

Mr. Morris

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I hope to attend the Labour Party conference in Llandudno. I reiterate and endorse what my hon. Friend has said, that if the Conservative Party were in power—which Heaven forbid—there would be massive cuts in public and other expenditure in Wales, and much more unemployment.