HC Deb 24 February 1982 vol 18 cc849-51
9. Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make a statement about the state of the Scottish economy.

Mr. Younger

Against a background of considerable national and international economic difficulty, the Scottish economy has experienced a fall in activity and employment which has been slightly less severe than for the United Kingdom as a whole. The trend in most of the major economic indicators is now more encouraging than for some time.

Mr. Canavan

What hope is there for the Scottish economy and for the 350,000 unemployed Scots after that depressing drivel by the Prime Minister last night when she made a cheap attempt to put the blame for mass unemployment on the unemployed? As even some Tory MPs are now demanding a £6 billion reflation of the economy in the forthcoming Budget to alleviate unemployment, will the Secretary of State back, within the Cabinet, even that modest proposal, or will he continue forever his dumb subservience to that demented woman who is wrecking the Scottish economy?

Mr. Younger

I detected no such remark or implication in the excellent speech that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made last night. It was extremely well received by those of the engineers who were there. With regard to the major problem, as the hon. Gentleman knows, not even he can alter the fact that this country has been going through one of the most difficult recessions in his lifetime.

Mr. Canavan

The right hon. Lady has made it worse.

Mr. Younger

The hon. Gentleman refuses to acknowledge the vast amount of help and aid, at great expense, that the Government have put into saving people from losing their jobs, notably in the steel industry, British Leyland and throughout private industry as well. I should have thought that he would be grateful for that.

Sir Hector Monro

Does my hon. Friend agree that the best permanent export that Scotland could make would be the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan)? Does he also agree that in January Scottish-based firms gained export orders worth £62 million and Scottish-based firms achieved contracts for £32 million for expenditure within Scotland? Is this not a very encouraging sign?

Mr. Younger

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, although I cannot agree that there is any great probability of our being able to export the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) as I do not detect a g-eat deal of demand for the product.

However, even in times of difficulty a number of films in Scotland have been extremely successful in exporting. There are many thousands of people in jobs in Scotland who can look forward to secure employment, notably on the Clyde, where a new order for Yarrow (Shipbuilders) Ltd. was announced only yesterday.

Mr. Millan

Is the Secretary of State aware that far from the Prime Minister's speech being extremely well received, it will be extremely badly received by the 3 million unemployed, including the 325,000 jobless in Scotland? What we need in the coming Budget i; a massive boost to the economy. As previous Tory Budgets have been disastrous for Scotland, if the Secretary of St ate has any influence in the Cabinet will he use it to prod ice for once a Budget that is good for Scotland?

Mr. Younger

The right hon. Gentleman should take the time to read the whole of the speech made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister last night, because in it she made it clear that the Government's top priority has to be to enable people who have lost their jobs to have some chance of obtaining new ones. The only way to do that is to stop people pricing themselves out of jobs as they did with many of the disastrous policies that he and his right hon. Friends followed for many years.

Later—

Mr. Fairbairn

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of your exalted campaign to preserve the standards of Parliament, is it in order for an hon. Member to describe a right hon. Member as a "demented woman", even if it comes from the hairy lips of a demented man?

Mr. Canavan

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. If it pleases the hon. and learned Gentleman, I shall change the phraseology and call her the "right hon. demented woman".

Mr. Speaker

Order. Very often it is a matter not of order but of taste. I leave the matter there.