HC Deb 07 May 1980 vol 984 cc255-8
2. Mr. Harry Ewing

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what increase there has been in unemployment in Scotland since 3 May 1979.

5. Mr. John Home Robertson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were unemployed in Scotland in May 1979; and how many are unemployed at the latest available date.

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. George Younger)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment in Scotland—the best guide to trend—increased by 24,800 between May 1979 and April 1980. On 10 May, 1979, the date of the monthly count, the total number of people registered as unemployed in Scotland was 165,441 and on 10 April 1980 the figure was 201,067.

Mr. Ewing

Does the Secretary of State accept that he has used the figures which exclude the school leavers because they are convenient for him? Does he remember that when he last left office he left 300,000 people in Scotland on a three-day week? Is it really his intention to leave those 300,000 people totally unemployed, with the abject poverty that that brings to families in Scotland?

Mr. Younger

As usual the hon. Gentleman spoils a good point by extraordinary exaggeration. He might recall that, when I left the Scottish Office, unemployment was 88,400 and by the time that he left office in May last year it was no less than 181,000. [Interruption.] I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman's running commentary is intended to help the House, but he might remember that in the first year of the Labour Government the increase in unemployment was 25,000—rather more than the figure that I have just announced.

Mr. Home Robertson

Is not the Secretary of State thoroughly ashamed of that abysmal record after one year in office? I wonder how serious unemployment will be after a further year. Will the Secretary of State comment on reports in today's issue of The Scotsman to the effect that the Government are considering the closure of Scottish Development Agency offices abroad? Does he accept that that will make it even more difficult to attract the vital foreign investment required to create the jobs that we so desperately need?

Mr. Younger

I suppose that I should be flattered that the hon. Gentleman expects me to put right in one year what his hon. Friends put wrong in five years, no decision of the type mentioned in The Scotsman report has been made. The Scottish Office and the Select Committee are looking into the matter and naturally we shall want to know what they have to say before making a decision.

Mr. Henderson

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to improve employment in Scotland is by investment and that that is being damaged by an unfortunate poor industrial relations image abroad? Does he agree that that image might not be justified entirely but that it is given further credence by the proposed inactivity on the day of action and the type of behavour that we saw at Hunterston?

Mr. Younger

I agree that that reputation is certainly not justified. I am sorry to say that it is greatly assisted by the fact that Opposition Members failed to make a proper condemnation of the strike record in the last year which, in many cases, was stimulated by them and their friends.

Mr. Russell Kerr

We applaud it.

Mr. Russell Johnston

Has the Secretary of State made any estimate of the extent to which unemployment will be increased if the pulp mill at Fort William is closed? What action is his Department taking? Do the Government believe that the newsprint option is still a runner?

Mr. Younger

I share the hon. Gentleman's concern about the situation at Fort William. We are sad that the proposal which we tried to get going has so far not come to fruition. As I said in my statement, we are still looking for other ways of getting the project going. I shall be glad to do everything possible in the coming months to try to achieve something in that area.

Mr. Gordon Wilson

Will the Secretary of State come clean on the question of inward investment and the role of the Scottish Development Agency overseas? Has he not admitted that he is under pressure from other Government Departments, including the Foreign Office and the Department of Industry? Does he agree that the SDA will be hamstrung if the pressures are successful? Will he defend the SDA in its work of trying to improve employment in Scotland?

Mr. Younger

I have defended the SDA on many occasions. I am under pressure to improve the inward investment performance of Scotland generally. We are considering how best that can be done. We must take account of what the Select Committee has to say. I should have thought that that was the way that everybody wants to approach the problem.

Mr. Allan Stewart

Does my right hon. Friend agree that employment prospects in Scotland must depend heavily on the expansion of small firms? Does he further agree that the real extent and importance of the changes announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in capital taxation for small firms are being appreciated increasingly?

Mr. Younger

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am glad to see that since the Chancellor's announcement a number of people involved in small firms' organisations have made it clear that what he says is so. This is one way in which we can recover some of the jobs that we have lost in the last five years under the previous Administration.

Mr. Dewar

A few minutes ago the Under-Secretary of State said that Government policies would work through in Scotland in the coming year. What is meant by that? Are we to understand that in the coming year there will be a genuine fall in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate?

Mr. Younger

My hon. Friend was trying to make it clear that it is unreasonable to expect new economic measures to take effect in a year or less. All the Government's policies are directed to strengthening the economy and enabling the recovery which eluded the last Government in their five disastrous years.