HC Deb 24 April 1978 vol 948 cc986-7
9. Mr. Silvester

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many company insolvencies there have been since February 1974 to the latest available date.

Mr. Clinton Davis

There were 20,159 in England and Wales between 1st April 1974 and the end of 1977.

Mr. Silvester

Now that the Government have been forced to make some amends to small companies for the damage they did earlier in their period of office, would it not be a good idea if the Minister consulted his right hon. Friends to see whether the same principle could be aplied to a wider range of business enterprises to remove some of the difficulties standing in their way?

Mr. Davis

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman follows proceedings in this place at all. He seems to have an invincible ignorance about economic matters.

Mr. Skinner

Is my hon. Friend aware that there were 11 bankruptcies during this period occasioned by the fact that the Tories voted against the Bill to relieve bankruptcy for the Clay Cross councillors, thereby adding to the total, and that the Tories were aided and abetted by a couple of dozen Members on the Labour Benches?

Mr. Davis

The Question deals with company insolvencies.

Mr. Parkinson

Is the Minister aware that during the period not only were there record bankruptcies but there was a substantial fall-off in the formation of new companies? Is he aware that exactly the same thing happened during the period of the last Labour Government, from 1964 to 1970? Does he now agree that bankruptcies and the inhibition of the creation of new companies are the inevitable consequences of a Labour Government?

Mr. Davis

The hon. Gentleman seems to be imprisoned by his own ridiculous slogans. Even though the hon. Gentleman may not have noticed it, the fact is that the whole of the Western world has been going through an unprecedented industrial recession—unprecedented at least since the 1930s. This inevitably leads to a position in which insolvencies grow. The hon. Gentleman simply will not look these facts in the face. The reality is that there are signs now, which no doubt Conservative Members will not recognise, that the level of insolvencies is past its peak. Do they welcome that?

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