HC Deb 13 July 1981 vol 8 cc789-90
9. Mr. Rowlands

asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many manufacturing firms in Wales have notified his Department of expansion plans in 1981; how many new jobs they will create; and how this number compares with the loss of manufacturing jobs in Wales in 1980.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

I shall try a short reply this time, Mr. Speaker. Companies are under no obligation to notify my Department of their expansion plans, so that no such comparison is possible.

Mr. Rowlands

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that since the last time he answered a question about Hoover and made some silly and insensitive remarks about industrial relations there we face the prospect of losing another 500 jobs in that factory? We have done everything that the Prime Minister has asked for in terms of improvements and productivity. What else does the right hon. Gentleman want us to do? Even though we have not rioted in the streets we want to see the back of the right hon. Gentleman and the end of the Government who have brought us to our knees.

Mr. Edwards

I welcome the improvements that have taken place at the Hoover factory. They have been a considerable advance. To say that everything possible has been done is to overstate the position. I have spelt out a series of measures that the Government are taking to improve the situation, and there is no answer in the Opposition's suggestion that all that we have to do is to follow the policies that have failed before.

Mr. Hooson

What proportion of the new jobs that have come to Wales would disappear if the Labour Party succeeded in withdrawing Britain from the EEC?

Mr. Edwards

It is clear that the overseas investment that has come to Wales has come almost entirely because of our membership of the EEC. It would not stay here and new investment would not come if Labour's commitment were carried out.

Mr. Alec Jones

May I suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that even if firms are not obliged to notify the Government of their expansion plans it would be reasonable for him and his Department to try to get the figures from the firms concerned? Does he not realise that the index of industrial production in the manufacturing sector alone in Wales fell by 19½ per cent. last year, which is surely no sign of an upturn in the economy, despite what the right hon. Gentleman says? How long does he believe it will take us to get back to the 1979 level of manufacturing production in Wales?

Mr. Edwards

The facts that the number of inquiries and visits, the number of factory allocations and the number of applications for selective financial assistance are all going up sharply and that the chairmen of the development corporation and the Welsh Development Agency point to an upturn in investment interest are signs that we can take as encouraging. However, unlike my predecessor, who used to forecast month after month that the upturn was coming, I have never pretended that there were quick and short-term solutions to the problems.