HC Deb 27 May 1982 vol 24 cc1047-8
10. Mr. Parry

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he next expects to meet the Irish Confederation of Trade Unions to discuss unemployment.

Mr. Adam Butler

Both my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly meet the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to discuss various aspects of the Northern Ireland economy, including unemployment. I shall shortly be meeting the Northern Ireland Committee to discuss the Industrial Development Board proposals.

Mr. Parry

When the Minister meets the ICTU, will he tell it what plans the Government have to reduce the appalling level of unemployment that has grown under this Government from 61,000 in May 1979 to 113,000 and from 10.5 per cent. to nearly 20 per cent.? Those figures do not take into account the present crisis at De Lorean.

Mr. Butler

I frequently tell the Northern Ireland trade unions both of the benefit to the Northern Ireland economy of the Government's economic strategy—which has already demonstrated its success—and about the Government's recognition of the needs of the Province, as is shown by the massive resources that they are prepared to make available to support industrial development and therefore help to overcome the unemployment problem.

Mr. J. Enoch Powell

Would it not be to the general advantage if the trade union movement were represented through political channels in the House as it is for the rest of the United Kingdom?

Mr. Butler

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, that is not the case in the House, and I do not see that it would necessarily benefit Northern Ireland if it were to be the case, either in the Assembly that will come about as a result of the elections, or directly at Westminster.

Mr. Soley

When the Minister next meets the trade unions, will he give them an assessment of the cost of unemployment benefits, which now runs at about £5,000 for each man out of work? Will he advise his colleagues to try to get a sensible balance between public expenditure for unemployment and related expenditure as opposed to aid to industry, as other Western European countries do more successfully?

Mr. Butler

One must take into account not only the financial cost of unemployment but the social cost. That is why the sums made available to the Northern Ireland economy are as large as they are.