HC Deb 30 June 1981 vol 7 cc689-90
9. Mr. loan Evans

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

18. Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current level of unemployment.

Mr. Prior

At 10 May 1979, the number of people registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers, was 1,312,000, The corresponding figure, which is provisional, was 2,552,400 at 11 June 1981. The non-seasonally adjusted figure, which includes school leavers, was 2,680,977.

Mr. Evans

Does the right hon. Gentleman recall the fraudulent political poster used in the last general election when Saatchi and Saatchi organised a bogus unemployment queue with the words underneath, "Labour is not working". Is Conservatism working now? What message has the right hon. Gentleman for the thousands of people who will be demonstrating in Cardiff on Saturday against the Government's employment policies?

Mr. Prior

I hope that the hon. Gentleman recalls the slogan, "Back to work with Labour" in 1974 after which the Labour Government doubled the level of unemployment in two years. I hope that he also recalls the report in The Observer in 1976 prophesying, through a Labour Party committee, a figure of 2.5 million unemployed in 1980.

Mr. Whitney

Will not my right hon. Friend agree that, while there has been some welcome improvement in productivity, the real cause of unemployment is directly related to the fact that output per head in Britain over the last years has been only two-thirds that of our industrial competitors?

Mr. Prior

A number of factors contribute to the high level of unemployment. Some are within the control of this country. Some are not. In those areas where the Government can help with special employment measures and in other respects, we shall do all that we can to relieve this serious situation.

Mrs. Renee Short

Is the Secretary of State aware that male unemployment in Wolverhampton in 1979 was 6.2 per cent. and is now 17.1 per cent? Is he also aware that women's unemployment, which was 4.6 per cent., is now 9.6 per cent? When will he produce some policy to reduce this level of unemployment in the West Midlands? When will some resources be invested in creating new industries to replace the old industries that have disappeared?

Mr. Prior

The West Midlands is suffering very heavily from high unemployment. It is a reflection of the downturn in the motor industry and in car components and other industries associated with engineering. [Interruption.] The hon. Lady will know as well as I do that we are producing about 700,000 fewer cars a year than we were producing 20 years ago. [Interruption.] This is reflected in the level of unemployment in areas such as Wolverhampton. It comes back to the question of our becoming competitive in costs so that we produce goods that people wish to buy.

Mr. Adley

I am not sure whether my right hon. Friend was referring specifically to British Leyland. I was unable to hear the first part of his answer. Does not the fact that British Leyland has produced 30,000 more cars with a smaller work force illustrate, in a nutshell, the problem of unmodernised British industry, which has suffered from bad industrial relations and low productivity? Will he not agree that, unless and until we deal with the problems, we shall never get the economy right and that in dealing with them there will inevitably be unemployment in the short term? We have to go through the pain of unemployment to get the economy right.

Mr. Prior

There are some welcome signs of increasing productivity and good sense on the shop floor. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton North-East (Mrs. Short) asks what else we can do. We have allocated, in the space of two years, £930 million to British Leyland, which will have an enormous effect in helping the West Midlands. I believe that this is the right policy, although it is an expensive one from the point of view of the rest of the country.

Mr. Varley

Why has the Secretary of State given up the fight to reduce unemployment? Is it not pathetic nowadays that, when he appears in the House or on the radio or television, he speculates about when, within the next few months, unemployment will reach 3 million? When will he fight within the Cabinet for economic policies to reduce unemployment, fulfil the terms of his office and give hope to the unemployed in Britain?

Mr. Prior

I am a member of a Government who are putting over £1,000 million into employment measures that have helped cases such as British Leyland and other nationalised industries with vast sums of money. It takes some time to clear up the mess for which the right hon. Gentleman was responsible.

Mr. loan Evans

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the greatly unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall seek to raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.

Forward to