HC Deb 23 January 1978 vol 942 cc960-1
16. Mr. Radice

asked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he is satisfied with industrial progress in the Northern Region.

Mr. Alan Williams

We shall continue to promote industrial development in the Northern Region.

Mr. Radice

Will my right hon. Friend make a statement about Swan Hunter and the Polish order? Does not he agree that, whatever the difficulties may be at Swan Hunter, the good industrial relations record and the high quality of the labour force make the Northern Region an ideal place for investment?

Mr. Williams

The shipbuilding situation is unchanged as reported by British Shipbuilders at the weekend. I endorse my hon. Friend's recommendation of his area for industrial investment. I am sorry that we recently lost an investment project which was to have been scheduled for his locality.

Mr. Dykes

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the Northern Region has benefited considerably from the infra-structural spending, loans and grants from the EEC through the European Investment Bank, the European Coal and Steel Community and the Regional Development Fund, without which it would not have fared so well, albeit under difficult conditions? Should not the Government therefore be less churlish about the EEC and be keener to help build up the Community institutions and allow more money to be spent in this way?

Mr. Williams

I am glad to agree about the role of the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank in our regional work. As far as the Regional Fund is concerned, the question of the non-quota section has important long-term considerations, and there has been a less than adequate indication of how that section would be used and how its use would be monitored. We have asked the Commission to come forward with further information.

Mr. Mike Thomas

Is it not the fact that, if unemployment begins to decline in the rest of the United Kingdom, the unemployment level in the Northern Region is usually left stranded high and dry like a whale on a beach, and that if such is the situation again, despite the progress that has been made, there will be strong criticism of the Government's failure to provide an effective regional policy?

Mr. Williams

My hon. Friend will recognise that regional policy can operate only in the context of world growth. The international recession is not, unfortunately, within the control of an individual Government. My hon. Friend will also appreciate that recently there has been considerable discussion, stimulated by my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to try to stimulate greater growth in the world economy, which is a prerequisite to getting our own economy moving.

Mrs. Kellett-Bowman

Is it not generally unfair that the Northern Region should receive from the Regional Development Fund three times as much assistance as the North-West receives, although the percentage of unemployment in the North-West is higher than it is in the Northern Region?

Mr. Williams

It is difficult to draw such a comparison because the North consists predominantly of special development areas, since it has such high concentrations of unemployment. The hon. Lady must be careful in what she says on behalf of the North-West. For example, if one takes the gross unemployment figures, one finds that the South-East, strangely enough, becomes the area with the greatest problem.