HC Deb 09 June 1980 vol 986 cc17-9
15. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps he is taking to encourage the development of growth industries in the West Midlands ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. David Mitchell

The Government's policies are designed to encourage the development of competitive growth industries throughout the country.

Mr. Roberts

Does not the Minister accept by now that that answer must seem pretty hollow to the 3,000 men who have been made redundant by Lucas, and to the tens of thousands more who will lose their jobs in the West Midlands this year? Will he consider the need to encourage the development of Government research centres in the West Midlands, of which the area is devoid? They act as useful forecasts for high technological growth.

Mr. Mitchell

I join the hon. Gentleman in regretting the loss of the jobs concerned, but, as he will recognise, jobs are available only when, as the result of co-operation of men and management, goods are produced at a price that the customer is prepared to pay. That is the essential problem that lies behind the unemployment to which he referred. I shall examine his suggestion of a research and development centre in the West Midlands.

Mr. Stokes

Is my hon. Friend aware that some of my rougher friends in industry in the West Midlands ask why the Government cannot set an example by cutting down bureaucracy more quickly and controlling wage awards, instead of getting industry to do their dirty work for them?

Mr. Mitchell

As my hon. Friend knows, from observing newspaper reports and the complaints of the Opposition, the Government are doing their best to cut down on the Civil Service and bureaucracy.

Mr. Winnick

The reply that the Under-Secretary gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock (Mr. Roberts) is totally inadequate. There is a jobs crisis in the West Midlands, with ever-increasing redundancies and closures. What do the Government intend to do to help the West Midlands, and where is there any evidence of the galvanising of employers that the Government promised when they took office?

Mr. Mitchell

With regard to the specific problems of the West Midlands, there has been cause for complaint for a long time that industries are being enticed away from it by the large area of the country that has had assisted area status in the past. By concentrating assistance on the areas that need it we have taken away some of the pressure on the West Midlands having seduced from it projects that would otherwise have been developed in that area.

Mr. Grieve

Is my hon. Friend aware that the policy on IDCs that was pursued by the previous Government has done immense damage to industry in the West Midlands? Does he agree that the rundown of the motor industry is at the root of a great deal of the troubles in the West Midlands, and that that rundown will be arrested only when there is wage restraint in the motor industry and a wholehearted co-operation between the work force and management, for the well being of industry?

Mr. Mitchell

My hon. and learned Friend is right to draw attention to the importance of the motor industry in that part of the country. He is also right to draw attention to the fact that wage settlements, and those who negotiate them, must take account of the ability of the industry to pay. If industries pay too much, men may lose their jobs as a direct result of extravagant wage claims forced upon employers.

Mr. Russell Kerr

Bank employees, please note.

Mr. Les Huckfleld

As the bulk of the British Leyland closures will take place in the West Midlands, and as heavy redundancies, including those at Lucas, are already taking place throughout the component industries, will the Minister tell the House what the growth industries in the West Midlands are expected to be?

Mr. Mitchell

It is not for the Government to decide what should be the growth industries in the West Midlands. It is for the Government to create the climate in which men and management will seize the opportunities themselves. The substantial changes contained in two Budgets have already set in train the changes that are necessary to recreate the incentives for people to do that.