§ 3. Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the rise in unemployment since May 1979.
§ Mr. PriorBetween May 1979 and April 1980 the number of people registered as unemployed in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers, increased by 145,800.
§ Mr. JonesIs it not a fact that Britain's unemployment will soon reach the 2 million mark, with ever-increasing pressures on the vulnerable regions and localities of the country? Will the right hon. Gentleman fight in the Cabinet against the monetarist policy, and for fundamental changes in policy on unemployment?
§ Mr. PriorThe so-called monetarist policies that we are following are exactly the same as those followed by the previous Government. We should always be careful before committing ourselves to forecasts about the level of unemployment because one forecast produced by the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Golding) suggested that by the end of 1979 the previous Government would have reduced unemployment to 700,000.
§ Mr. BulmerWill my right hon. Friend confirm the warnings given by the last Government during the winter of discontent that wage and salary increases 197 substantially in excess of output will lead to rapidly rising unemployment?
§ Mr. PriorI confirm that wholeheartedly. The more we can keep our increases in wages down, the better the prospects for the rate of inflation and for jobs. That is in no way inconsistent with the policy for controlling the growth of the money supply.
§ Mr. RadiceDo the Government understand that the situation in the Northern region is deteriorating dramatically and there are fewer and fewer vacancies with more and more unemployed people and redundancies every week? Does it need a national disaster to make the Government change their policy?
§ Mr. PriorThe position in the North, and particularly the North-East, is serious. However, one of the strange things is that there are still vacancies in that part of the world for a number of jobs, such as work on the railways. I hope that the hon. Member will do all that he can to see that such vacancies are filled.
§ Mr. Gordon WilsonDoes the Secretary of State accept that unemployment is increasing very rapidly in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England? In the absence of any positive efforts by the Government to do something about this is he aware that there is a prevailing view that this Government were elected by the South for the benefit of the South?
§ Mr. PriorI absolutely reject that view. As the former Prime Minister said, we are no longer in a position where we can print our way out of unemployment. The sooner we recognise that fact, the better.
§ Mr. Peter LloydIs it not a fact that unemployment doubled in the five years of the last Labour Government and did that not demonstrate that Socialist remedies for this evil simply do not work? Will not my right hon. Friend agree that the only hope for those on the dole is a revival of the private sector, based on incentive and opportunity?
§ Mr. PriorMy hon. Friend is right. The Opposition have no remedies. Unemployment more than doubled under them. As a result we started this recession with double the amount of unemployment with which we started the last.
§ Mr. VarleyCan the right hon. Gentleman tell us what measures he has taken since last May to reduce unemployment?
§ Mr. VarleyIs it not true that the right hon. Gentleman has no more confidence in Government economic and industrial policies than we have? Is it not about time he started to stand up and fight for the unemployed instead of allowing the drift towards the 2 million unemployed mark by next winter?