Irish Congress of Trade Unions

HC Deb 03 April 1980 vol 982 cc633-5

5. Mr. Parry

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to meet the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Northern Ireland committee.

Mr. Humphrey Atkins

I met representatives of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Northern Ireland committee on 11 March 1980, and have no immediate plans for another meeting.

Mr. Parry

When the Secretary of State next meets the Northern Ireland committee of the ICTU, will he tell it what plans he has to reduce the high level of unemployment in Northern Ireland, and discuss with it the serious effects of public spending cuts on the poorer sections of the community, especially in urban areas?

Mr. Atkins

We discussed both those matters at my meeting on 11 March, and I look forward to further meetings with the Northern Ireland committee, at which I shall continue to explain Government policies and seek to get the committee's support for them.

Mr. Fitt

Will the Secretary of State accept that the demonstrations that took place throughout Northern Ireland yesterday, under the auspices of the trade union movement, were almost an expression of concern over the fears now being expressed throughout Northern Ireland about the Government's doctrinaire Tory policies? Does he accept that the ICTU has predicted that within the next year the number of unemployed in Northern Ireland will increase by a further 8,000? Will he confirm or deny those suspicions?

Mr. Atkins

No, Sir. The ICTU is entitled to make any predictions that it likes. I was aware of the reasons for the demonstrations yesterday. I regret those demonstrations, because I do not believe that they serve a useful purpose in seeking to reduce unemployment. I have explained to the ICTU, and shall continue to explain, Government policies, some of which it does not suport. I am glad to say that people in the country generally support Government policies.

Mr. Kilfedder

Does the Secretary of State realise that it is not simply a question of reducing the already high level of unemployment of 65,000? It is a question of facing the bleak prospect of having about 115,000 unemployed in Northern Ireland as a result of Government cuts—and that in a Province where the cost of living is already high, and where gas, electricity and coal are far dearer than in Great Britain.

Mr. Atkins

Not for the first time, I find myself unable to accept the hon. Gentleman's predictions.

Mr. John

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the public expenditure figures published last week show that public expenditure in 1983–84 will be £130 million less than it is now, £62 million of that being accounted for by less aid to industry? How does he expect that to do other than increase unemployment, lower the standards of public provision and cause a great deal of further job loss in both the private and the public sectors?

Mr. Atkins

The hon Gentleman will have seen from the White Paper that public expenditure forecasts for Northern Ireland give a higher level than in any year before the one in which his Government thought that an election was just coming. The answer to the hon. Gentleman's second point is that the reduced figure that he mentions takes account of the reduction in the electricity subsidy.