HC Deb 11 July 1977 vol 935 cc5-7
3. Mr. Hooson

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for directing a higher proportion of public expenditure in Wales towards productive industry so as to help create more worthwhile job opportunities.

Mr. John Morris

There is no restriction on the money available for assistance to industrial development under Section 7 of the Industry Act for which I am responsible. Officials of my Department are launching a campaign to draw the attention of industry to the full range of incentives available.

Mr. Hooson

Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the basic faults of the British economy and of the Welsh economy is that too high a percentage of public expenditure has been directed to the non-productive sector, in particular in the reform of local government and the reform of the National Health Service, which has deprived the productive sector of expenditure which it otherwise might have had?

Mr. Morris

I have no responsibility for the actions of the last Conservative Administration which decided to reorganise local government and the Health Service in the way they did, which has been substantially disapproved—I put it as mildly as I can—from one end of Wales to the other. We are ensuring that resources are made available for industrial development in publicly-owned industry and privately-owned industry. That has been the emphasis of the Government.

Mr. Roy Hughes

Does my right hon. and learned Friend appreciate that the June jobless figure for Gwent showed an increase of 892? That is a significant rise against the national trend, even before school leavers come on to the labour market. Does it not reveal once again the injustice of not including Newport in the development area, which deprives the people of Gwent of so many job opportunities?

Mr. Morris

I share my hon. Friend's concern about the unemployment figures. The question of development area status for Newport, for which my hon. Friend has been an assiduous campaigner, is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Industry.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

Is not the real economic mistake to take too much away from productive industry in the way of resources?

Mr. Morris

If the hon. Gentleman would spell out how he would seek to cut back on public expenditure, of which I understand he is an advocate, perhaps I could deal with that question more fully. However, he seeks to get the best of both worlds. He seeks a massive cut in public expenditure, which would lead to much more unemployment right across Wales.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

I know that the right hon. and learned Gentleman told readers of the Western Mail on Friday that it would be tedious to catalogue the reasons for our economic failure, but would it not be sensible for him to try to analyse them and explain why high tax policies have brought economic and social disaster in Wales, added 42,000 to the list of Welsh unemployment and destroyed the job prospects of 12,000 or 13,000 young people?

Mr. Morris

If the hon. Gentleman had read the whole of the article, he would have seen that I made it clear that there has been a failure to compete with other Western European countries and with the rest of the world in growth since the end of the war. If the hon. Gentleman divorces the Welsh economy from what has been happening in the rest of Europe, he has failed to understand it. We have taken major decisions for substantial public investment—in the steel industry at Port Talbot, at Shotton and at Ebbw Vale, and in the coal industry —and we have given every possible help to private industry. Hence the Hoover decision at Merthyr and the decisions taken on many other places.