§ 18. Mr. Ashtonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of days lost in strike action in 1978; and what was the comparable figure for 1972.
§ Mr. BoothIt is provisionally estimated that 9.3 million working days were lost in industrial stoppages in 1978, compared with about 23.9 million in 1972.
§ Mr. AshtonWill my right hon. Friend arrange to have these figures put on every placard in the country, preferably by Saatchi and Saatchi, to point out how much better it is to have the current policies of the Government, which we have had for the past five years, than the policies which the right hon. Lady wishes to bring in but which resulted in 250 per cent. more strikes?
§ Mr. BoothI doubt whether that would be a proper use of my departmental budget. In any case, I hope that my hon. Friend will not want us to pick up the tactics of certain members of the Opposition of trying to give publicity to certain limited, highly unrepresentative statistics.