Yorkshire and Humberside (Hansard, 8 February 1983)

§ 8. Mr. Woodall
asked the Secretary of State for Employment by how much unemployment has increased in Yorkshire and Humberside since May 1979; and if he will express this in percentage terms.

§ Mr. Gummer
Between May 1979 and January 1983 the number of unemployed claimants, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers, increased by 169,000 or 154 per cent. in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

§ Mr. Woodall
Is the Minister aware that those figures are a terrible indictment of himself, his Department and the Government and that they hide high spots of unemployment such as Hemsworth, the Dearne area and Mexborough, where a generation of young people cannot, and more than likely never will be able to, find jobs because of the Government's policy? Why does not he, his Department and the Government do the right and proper thing, which is to resign, and let the people have a Labour Government?

§ Mr. Gummer
I fully share the hon. Gentleman's comments about—[HON. MEMBERS: "Resign."] I share the hon. Gentleman's comments so much that I try not to enter into party political bashing. I fully share his views about the appalling number of unemployed in his area. He will know that my industrial connections with that area make me particularly concerned. There is no hope of dealing with unemployment unless we have the rejuvenation of British industry, and that will come about by being competitive, selling our goods against others in the world and making sure that at long last we are up to date instead of being dragged down by the Labour party's policies.

§ Mr. Waller
Is my hon. Friend aware that the latest surveys of industry in Yorkshire and Humberside carried out by the chambers of commerce show that order books are becoming fuller and that confidence is slowly but surely improving? While employment is bound to lag behind, does not that hold out the best hope for the future?

§ Mr. Gummer
I am sure that my hon. Friend is right. All of us would like to have an easy answer to unemployment, but it is a long and difficult answer to make up for 20 years when Britain became uncompetitive, largely because of the Labour party's policies.

§ Mr. Woolmer
Will the Minister look at the latest report of the Leeds chamber of commerce and industry, published last week, which shows that two thirds of all Leeds firms see no signs of economic recovery? Does the hon. Gentleman agree with the Prime Minister, who before the election described the Conservative party as the party of opportunity? There has been plenty of opportunity in the City of London. What opportunities have there been for the heartlands of Britain?

§ Mr. Gummer
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be glad of the following opportunities: Systime in Leeds with its new £30 million factory, which will create 800 new jobs, 450 of them in Leeds; Microvitec in Bradford, which hopes to provide 1,000 new jobs in 1986; and the work on the 600-metre extension of the main runway at the Leeds-Bradford airport. If the hon. Gentleman occasionally spoke well of his region and tried to get more jobs there, we would do a lot better.