HC Deb 15 March 1978 vol 946 cc430-2
12. Mr. Fairgrieve

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a further statement on prospects for the Scottish economy over the forthcoming six months.

Mr. Millan

As I told the hon. Member on 15th February, our economic prospects will be influenced by developments in world trade as well as the extent to which we can reduce our rate of domestic inflation. Since then the annual rate of increase has come down to single figures.

Mr. Fairgrieve

But, as I said to the Minister on the same date, if the Government are genuine about reducing unemployment, there is only one sector in which that can be achieved in Scotland, namely, in the small business sector. That sector is now hampered by Government regulations. Will the Minister consider examining those regulations, and particularly the provisions of the Employment Protection Act, which is destroying employment?

Mr. Millan

The hon. Gentleman knows that many matters affecting small businesses are now being examined. I agree that the small business sector has an important part to play in the Scottish economy, but, of course, it does not by any means comprise the whole of the Scottish economy.

Mr. Grimond

Will the right hon. Gentleman say something about the effect on the Scottish economy of the weakness of the dollar? Has it affected Scottish exports, and what is the effect on the subsidiaries of American companies in Scotland?

Mr. Millan

Following uncertainty in currency values, I do not think that I can distinguish between effects on the United Kingdom economy as a whole compared with the effects on Scotland as part of that economy. The right hon. Gentleman will know the efforts made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in the last few days on the subject of the expansion of world trade.

Mr. Canavan

Will the Minister say something about the contribution to the Scottish economy of Yarrow Shipbuilders, Glasgow? Is it not a fact that Yarrow would have no future at all if Parliament as a whole had voted in the same way as Conservatives and SNP Members of Parliament, who voted against aircraft and shipbuilding being taken into public ownership, since taking them into public ownership saved thousands of jobs for workers on Clydeside and elsewhere in Scotland?

Mr. Millan

I agree with my hon. Friend that Scottish ownership of the shipbuilding industry and the considerable sums of public money put into that industry in Scotland have saved a considerable number of jobs. Anything that would damage the Scottish shipbuilding industry—either Tory opposition to shipbuilding nationalisation or the bizarre statements of the SNP candidate at Garscadden about Yarrow—should be treated with considerable anger by the people of Scotland.

Mrs. Bain

Does the Minister accept that the SNP Members are proud at having a high-principled candidate at Garscadden who is not afraid to lay his views on the line, and are surprised at the views of the Labour Party, which are not in line with those of its founding father, Keir Hardie? What representations has he made to the Department of Industry and the Common Market to allow the continuation and expansion of the Intervention Fund in view of the importance of the shipbuilding industry in the West of Scotland?

Mr. Millan

We are anxious to see the Intervention Fund continuing. I am delighted that any SNP candidate is frank about his party's policies. I only wish Conservative Members would be equally frank.

Dr. Bray

Is the Minister aware that the high and apparently rising level of redundancy payments sometimes received by redundant workers does much to ease and humanise immediate redundancy difficulties but blunts public protest and the underlying opposition to the high level of unemployment? Therefore, will he accept that the reduction of unemployment remains the overwhelming priority of Members on the Labour Benches?

Mr. Millan

I agree with my hon. Friend that we must get the unemployment figure down. Although we wish to see adequate redundancy payments made, that is very much a second-best policy. The primary consideration must remain the saving of jobs.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

Is the right hon. Gentleman not rather ashamed of having been elected on a manifesto which said that the 1974 rates of unemployment were intolerable, when unemployment has doubled since then and we now have a further sign with reports of 150 redundancies at Drumchapel, in the Garscadden constituency? Will he encourage his party and the SNP to continue being frank, since the latest evidence of political opinion in Scotland is a dramatic win for the Conservatives from the nationalists on a 60 per cent. poll in the Perth constituency?

Mr. Millan

I have already made clear on numerous occasions that the present level of unemployment is far too high. I am glad that there was some reduction in the seasonally adjusted numbers of unemployed in January and February, but it was quite small, and I want to see it coming down much more rapidly.