Unemployment (Scotland) (Hansard, 8 February 1983)

§ Mr. John Maxton (Glasgow, Cathcart)
Can I begin by thanking the Minister very much for attending this evening to take part in what is now a brief Adjournment debate, the second one of the evening? I only hope that the tear-around he has had to get here has not ruined his digestion and that he does not suffer throughout the rest of the night.
I wish to raise with the Minister the question of the level of unemployment in Scotland. I made the topic deliberately broad because I thought that perhaps the earlier business would have finished and we would have had a longer debate, thus allowing some of my hon. Friends from other Scottish constituencies, and from English constituencies as well, to take part. However I think I shall be the only one able to speak, apart from the Minister.
This Government's record in Scotland is a series of broken promises. We all remember the election campaign poster which said "Education doesn't work under Scotland". This Minister is in charge of education in Scotland: his record in terms of expenditure cuts and the closing of educational provision in Scotland makes a mockery of that poster. The Conservative party said that a no vote would not mean the end of the Scottish Assembly. That promise has been broken, too. As soon as they returned to power they revoked the Scotland Bill, got rid of the Scottish Assembly and have made no attempt whatsoever to restore it in any form. This Government came into power promising greater autonomy to local government. What have they done? They have reduced the power of local government and, by this means, raised the level of unemployment.
It is in the area of employment more than any other that this Government have broken their promises to the electorate of Scotland. We can all remember the poster depicting the long dole queue of actors—because that is what they were—which the Tory party put out during the last election campaign under the now trite slogan "Labour isn't working", implying that Labour had caused unemployment in Scotland and that therefore the Labour Government should be thrown out. The Government now make excuses for the rise in unemployment. They blame the world recession, the trade unions, even Opposition Members, but never themselves. Yet in the last Parliament the Conservatives were very quick to blame the Labour Government for the higher levels of unemployment.
On 19 July 1977 the Scottish Grand Committee, at the instigation of the Conservative Opposition, debated the level of unemployment. It was a very odd debate in that it was opened by a Back-Bencher from the Conservative side and closed by another Conservative Back-Bencher. It was opened by the late Miss Betty Harvie Anderson, the then Member for Renfrewshire, East. She said: The very existence of this country depends upon the full use of our human resources and the profitable result of their Labour, profitable both to them and to the nation, yet we discuss this matter this morning against the tragic background of the worst unemployment figures since the war. We must continue to repeat these figures. She went on to say.
We cannot tolerate the position of 162,000 people in Scotland unemployed, 25,000 of them school leavers and 140,000 long-term unemployed. She went on to quote from a letter in the Glasgow Herald. 975 'If you want to destroy a civilization, force your youth into idleness'". The debate in the Scottish Grand Committee was closed by the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, West (Sir R. Fairgrieve), who became a Minister in the early years of this Parliament. He said: Since the Labour Party came to power unemployment has doubled, and has now reached the staggering figure of 186,000. Mark you, there seems to be some difference between the figures used by the hon. Lady at the beginning and those used by the hon. Gentleman at the end. The hon. Member said: Seventy-one thousand more people in Scotland who had jobs when the Tories left office no longer have them. A further 25,000 young people are looking for jobs after leaving school. He added: Apart from the personal humiliation of being unable to get a job, what a way for any country to treat its young people starting out in life".—[Official Report, Scottish Grand Committee, 19 July 1977; c. 184–229.] There are 333,200 people unemployed in Scotland today.

§ Mr. John Home Robertson (Berwick and East Lothian)
My hon. Friend is slightly out.

§ Mr. Maxton
That is the December figure and I apologise if I am slightly out of date. If the Minister will allow it, my hon. Friend could perhaps give the figures. They compare with the hon. Member saying in 1977 that 186,000 was a staggering figure.
I am bound to admit that there is a world recession, although there has been one since 1973. However, when in Opposition the Tories were not prepared to admit that some of the unemployment that existed in Scotland was due to the world recession. We are prepared to admit that, but the largest part of it is due to the Government's policies; the cuts in public expenditure, particularly in the construction industry which relies heavily upon public investment in housing, sewerage, water works and roads. As a result, one in four of unemployed people in Scotland are construction workers. It is one of the areas in which the Government have created unemployment.
The Government have also caused unemployment by reducing the general level of demand in our society. They have held down pensions and social security benefits and forced down wages. If wages are forced down below the level of inflation the spending power of the individual is reduced. It lowers demand and creates unemployment elsewhere.
The Government are keen to say that unless inflation is cured there will be ever-rising unemployment, but the way that they have cured it—if they have—has meant, equally, rising unemployment. There is a vicious circle which appears to have no end.
Unemployment affects all constituencies. In my constituency the present level is 20 per cent. Hon. Members who know my constituency know that half of it is made up of middle-class housing where the level of unemployment is comparatively low. The average figure of 20 per cent. comes from a large housing estate, where unemployment runs at over 30 per cent. There are 35,000 people on that estate. Before the Government took office the level was still too high. It was about 14 per cent. to 15 per cent. We talk too often about unemployment in statistical terms, but it is really about human beings who do not have the dignity of work, who cannot obtain a job 976 and as a result feel humiliated in the eyes of their peers and feel that they have let their families down because they cannot provide a decent standard of living for them.
I remember once going into the Labour club at Cathcart. I sat down and started to talk to a man who was always full of bonhomie. He used to work for Talbot at Linwood. He was sitting on his own. Before he was unemployed he would sit with his friends. They had rounds of drinks, although not too many; they played dominoes and cards. I said to him "What are you doing, Benny? Why are you sitting here on your own like this?" He said "Well, John, I cannot afford to buy my round of drinks and, therefore, I am not prepared to be humiliated by being treated constantly by my friends who are in work. That may sound sad. Perhaps he should not have been drinking there, but it is often the one relief for a man. It is sad that he cannot enjoy the companionship of his friends because of his pride and his feeling that he would be humiliated if he drank with them. That is what unemployment means. The Government are destroying people.
The list of companies and towns that have been decimated by the Government is endless—there is Talbot, Weir Pumps, Timex, Invergordon, Bathgate and so on. They have been decimated by the Government's economic policies in Scotland. No Minister or Government can be proud of that. It has happened because of the Government's policies. There are alternatives—massive increase in public expenditure could swing round the economy. For example, Glasgow is desperately in need of housing and an injection of public expenditure would provide both jobs and housing.
The Government must change their mind and reverse their policy. If they cannot do that, the sooner a general election comes the sooner a Labour Government with alternative policies will take power.

§ Mr. John Home Robertson (Berwick and East Lothian)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Maxton) on raising this important matter. It is a pity that Scottish Members of Parliament cannot debate such an issue more frequently. There was an interesting debate yesterday in the Scottish Grand Committee in Edinburgh. We cannot vote on controversial or substantive motions in that Committee. It is a pity that we do not more often talk about matters of central importance to Scotland.
My hon. Friend was right to raise the vital matter of unemployment. Figures provided by the House of Commons Library show that Glasgow has seven districts of the 20 heading the high unemployment league. Thirteen of Scotland's 71 constituencies have unemployment levels of more than 20 per cent. That is appalling. It is tragic that the Government have managed to turn Scotland into an industrial desert. It is also tragic that Scotland has become almost an under-developed country that must rely more and more on imports of manufactured goods.

§ Mr. David Lambie (Central Ayrshire)
Does my hon. Friend realise that not only the old industrial cities such as Glasgow are suffering but the new towns such as Irvine in my constituency—a so-called growth point of Scotland—which has more than 6,000 people unemployed. That is a record for Scotland, with a male 977 unemployment figure of more than 50 per cent. The whole of Scotland, including the growth areas, is affected by unemployment.

§ Mr. Home Robertson
My hon. Friend is right. Even the supposedly well-off constituencies such as mine, in the relatively rural areas, are suffering more and more from the affliction of unemployment.
My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Cathcart covered the need to stoke up the economy to get people back to work—creating wealth rather than using up the wealth obtained from North Sea oil to pay unemployment benefits.
The Government and Scottish Office Ministers have failed to maintain Scotland's development incentives in comparison with the English regions, recent press reports show that there is a likelihood that development incentives in the Midlands will become more attractive than those in Scotland. I hope that the Minister will comment on that point. It would be shocking if that happened. I could raise many more matters of importance, but I hope that the Minister will see fit to nail that one point tonight.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Alexander Fletcher)
rose—

§ Mr. Harry Ewing (Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth)
rose—

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bernard Weatherill)
Order. Has the hon. Member for Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth (Mr. Ewing) got the Minister's permission to make a brief intervention?

§ Mr. Fletcher
No, Mr. Deputy Speaker, he has not. I have only 10 minutes.

§ Mr. Ewing
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. May I record through you, on a point of order, that the Minister was afraid to answer questions on Alcan at Falkirk?

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
That is an unfair point of order.

§ Mr. Fletcher
It is not even a point of order.
The hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Maxton) started his speech by accusing the Government of having a record of broken promises. He started with education. I am glad that he did, because he will know that the pupil-teacher ratio in Scotland is the best that it has ever been. As one who was previously employed in education, the hon. Gentleman will know how important that is in Scotland, as it is elsewhere. He will know, too, that great progress has been made with the introduction of the Munn and Dunning proposals, which will revolutionise the curriculum.

§ Mrs. Helen McElhone (Glasgow, Queen's Park)
rose—

§ Mr. Fletcher
I apologise to the hon. Lady, but I have only 10 minutes in which to reply to what has been said in the debate.
The proposals will cause a great revolution in the curriculum, syllabus and assessment of 14 to 16-year-olds, and are widely welcomed by educationists in Scotland.
Last week we announced the introduction of an all-graduate teaching profession in Scotland, which I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will greatly welcome, although whether he is willing to admit that it is a different matter. 978 Yesterday, as the hon. Member for Berwick and East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) said in the Scottish Grand Committee in Edinburgh, we discussed in some detail the Government's proposals for the 16 to 18-year-olds and the important new system of education, training, and flexibility between schools and further education colleges, the new modules, and the new certificate of vocational studies.

§ Mrs. McElhone
rose—

§ Mr. Fletcher
I am very sorry to say that I cannot give way. I must reply to the points that have been raised in this short debate.
In September of this year the youth training scheme will be introduced. These are all important innovatiors that the Government have introduced during past three and a half years. Certainly in education, there is no basis whatever for the hon. Gentleman or any of his hon. Friends to suggest that somehow the Government have either broken their promises or, by their policy on public expenditure, done anything other than help education in Scotland to a very considerable extent. [Interruption.] That is something that, as a former educationist, the hon. Member for Cathcart cannot possibly ignore, whatever he may choose to say in public in this House. [Interruption.] I am following the pattern of the hon. Gentleman's speech that I listened to with great care. I have spent two minutes on education, and I am now happy to consider what he said about unemployment.
The hon. Member quoted my former right hon. Friend Miss Betty Harvie Anderson, and some remarks that she made some years ago on unemployment. He ignored what his right hon. and noble Friend Lord Ross of Marnock said when he was Secretary of State for Scotland. He said that he would resign his office if unemployment exceeded 100,000. While he was in office, unemployment did exceed 100,000, and the right hon. Gentleman did not resign. So, if the hon. Member for Cathcart is trying to present a balanced and constructive view of either the economic or political situation in Scotland, he should not be as selective as he has chosen to be, even in this short debate.
Then there is the matter of regional policy. West central Scotland is the largest special development area in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Home Robertson
Will it stay that way?

§ Mr. Fletcher
I am happy to tell the hon. Member for Berwick and East Lothian that Scotland will continue to be a top priority area for regional policy in the United Kingdom. He mentioned some newspaper reports in the Scottish press, which I saw. This Government, like any other Government preparing for a new Parliament, are considering what improvements can be made to regional policy. There is no reason to suggest that Scotland will be disadvantaged, compared with the rest of the United Kingdom. However, I am bound to say, as the hon. Gentleman raised the subject of the west midlands, that I am suréhe is aware that unemployment there is higher than it is in Scotland. It is not surprising that proposals might be brought forward to bring some benefits to the west midlands.
On top of the strong regional policy supported by the five new towns in Scotland, the Scottish Development Agency and the three enterprise zones, Scotland has a 979 record level of grants and loans from the EC. Well over £1 billion in grants and loans has come to Scotland—about a quarter of the United Kingdom's share—since the United Kingdom joined the EC.
Yet the Labour party's policy is to withdraw from the EC. I cannot believe that Labour Members who mention unemployment and regional policy in Scotland think that it would be good for regional policy, employment and inward investment in Scotland if we were to withdraw from the EC. The hon. Member for Cathcart nods his head, which suggests that he is in favour of withdrawal from the EC. I see that the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr. Lambie) is nodding too, yet he pleads with me to bring inward investment to his constituency. I make no complaint about that, but Labour Members must accept that it is not entirely the attractiveness of Scotland, or even the Scottish working population, that encourages inward investment; it is the fact that investors in Scotland have the potential of the largest single common market in the world. Despite Labour Members' tears and complaints about unemployment, their policies are diabolically—[Interruption.]—diametrically opposed—they are also diabolical—to the remedies that are essential for the reinvigoration and regeneration of the Scottish economy.
The hon. Member for Cathcart mentioned some of the closures, and they are matters of great sadness—[Interruption.] They may give Labour Members great satisfaction, but they do not give me great satisfaction. Seven hundred jobs have been lost today in the aluminium industry in Falkirk. The world aluminium industry has never gone through a longer period of recession. That is why, sadly, about 800 jobs were lost at Invergordon last year and why 700 jobs have been lost in Falkirk today. That has happened despite a great deal of Government support to keep those jobs going.
980 The hon. Member for Cathcart mentioned Linwood. Frankly, if any factory threw its prospects away it was Linwood. It had three of four lives under different owners and on each occasion it failed to produce motor cars that people wanted to buy. That is why there is no motor industry at Linwood today. At the moment the demand for motor cars is growing in the United Kingdom, but not the share of British manufacturers. I am sorry to say that, in the past decade, British Leyland's share of the domestic market has halved, whereas the share of the market going to importers has increased to well over 50 per cent. That is a measure of the need for competitiveness which has been stressed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and others constantly at the Dispatch Box. If we want jobs in Scotland or any other part of the United Kingdom, we must also want an industry that is competitive and viable, whether it is producing motor cars, aluminium or anything else.
The Government's policy is to reduce inflation and interest rates. We now have a healthy balance of payments and the Government are successfully implementing the policies of my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor. However, that is not enough in itself. We need the inventors. The industrial history of Scotland is full of people who have started businesses—entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors. Even today, Scotland is a source of new industries. In about 12 years the oil and gas industries have created about 100,000 new jobs in Scotland; electronics, 40,000 jobs; and banking, insurance and financial services, about 80,000 jobs. All that is happening even at a time of serious world recession—