§ Mr. StrawI beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
the mounting crisis in the Lancashire textile industry.1084 My immediate reason for raising this matter today is the announcement on Thursday last of the redundancy of 91 workers at the Mossbridge Yarns mill in Blackburn following the announcement 10 days ago of 90 redundancies at the Waterfall mill in Blackburn. Many of those made redundant are my constituents.Given the scale of redundancies across the whole of industry, I can understand that 180 redundancies declared in one town may appear not to be a sufficient reason for moving the Adjournment of the House, but because of the organisation of the textile industry into relatively small units and factories, individual redundancies and closure applications rarely involve more than 200 or 300 jobs at any one time. Therefore, there never will be a day, given the nature of the industry, when one can point to 5,000 jobs going in a single, dramatic announcement as, for example, can happen in the steel industry.
What I can point to, however, is the fact that 9,000 jobs have been lost in the textile industry since Christmas. One-fifth of the Lancashire textile industry has been wiped out in six months. When I made a similar application on 6 May, job losses stood at 4,500, with 20 mills having been closed. Now, almost two months later, the total stands at 9,000 lost jobs, with 53 mills closed. In Blackburn last month unemployment went up by 1,000 in four weeks.
The importance of the issue, Mr. Speaker, is obvious. Sixty thousand people depend for their livelihood on employment in the Lancashire textile industry. According to the Financial Times, half those jobs are at risk if present conditions persist.
The urgency of the situation is that unless firm Government action is taken more and more jobs will go. That point, as I am sure you will understand, Mr. Speaker, is well illustrated by what has already happened in the industry over the last two months.
As the Leader of the House knows only too well, we have repeatedly asked him for a debate on the textile crisis and, while sympathy from him has been in abundance, no action has followed. The only way we shall get a debate on this issue, I think, is by an emergency application being granted under Standing Order No. 9. 1085 Death can come just as surely by a thousands cuts as by a single bullet. The Lancashire textile industry is suffering a slow but sure death through the Government's complacency and inaction. I respectfully beg of you, Mr. Speaker, to grant this application.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) gave me notice this morning before 12 o'clock that he would seek leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believed should have urgent consideration, namely,
the mounting crisis in the Lancashire textile industry.The hon. Gentleman has drawn the attention of the House to a very serious matter. He has submitted many facts to us. He knows, and the House knows, that I do not decide whether the serious issues to which he has referred shall be debated. I merely decide whether they should take precedence over the business for tonight or tomorrow.As the House, knows, under Standing Order No. 9 I am directed to take into account the several factors set out in the Standing Order but to give no reasons for my decision. I listened with anxious care to the hon. Member, but I must rule that his submission does not fall within the provisions of the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.