Cumbria (Hansard, 10 May 1983)

§ 3. Mr. Campbell-Savours
asked the Secretary of State for Employment what increase there has been in unemployment in the county of Cumbria since the month of May in 1979.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Selwyn Gummer)
Between May 1979 and October 1982 the number of registered unemployed in the county increased by 136 per cent. Between October 1982 and April 1983 the number of unemployed claimants increased by 14,034.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
Is the Minister aware that unemployment in Workington has tripled under the Government? Is it not a shabby, insensitive, uncaring and intolerant Government who force my constituents on the dole and then oblige them to live on benefit payments which are insufficient to meet their daily needs, while the Secretary of State's responsibilities are geared not to the level of benefit payments but simply to ensuring that my constituents are out of work? Is it not wrong and immoral of the Government to impose such a burden on the working people of Britain?

§ Mr. Gummer
The answer is no, Sir. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will explain to his constituents how he intends to support the Labour party's policy when it comes to the nuclear submarine which Vickers at Barrow will build and which will provide many jobs in the county of Cumbria. That is what his question was about.

§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop
Did not the constituents of the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) suffer severe damage from the steel strike which lost for British Steel, possibly for ever, many of its traditional markets? What did the hon. Gentleman do to dissuade his constituents from destroying their livelihood in that steel strike?

§ Mr. Gummer
I am sure that the people of Cumbria, like those in the rest of the United Kingdom, know very well that the way in which unemployment has increased in Britain has much to do with the way in which we have priced ourselves out of markets throughout the world and that one of the ways that we have done that has been to strike instead of increasing our productivity.

§ Mr. Radice
That is not true. Has the Minister noted that unemployment in the northern region, even on the so-called new basis, has risen from 105,000 to 229,000 since the last general election—a disastrous increase of 118 per cent? When will unemployment in the northern region begin to go down?

§ Mr. Gummer
Unemployment in the northern region will begin to go down when we win back the customers that we lost under successive Labour Governments who did not enable Britain to keep the competitive edge that we need. In the end, we can have jobs only from firms that sell goods at prices that people can afford to designs that they want to choose.

§ Mr. Ron Lewis
In view of the increasing number of people unemployed in Cumbria since the last general election, will the Minister be going to Cumbria during the next few weeks to apologise for misleading people with the Conservative poster displayed at the last general election?

§ Mr. Gummer
I am sure that many Conservative Members will be going to Cumbria and other parts of the country reminding people, as they know full well, that the only way to get more jobs is to produce goods that we can sell at competitive prices. There is no short way to achieve that. The Conservative Government, who will be the Government after 9 June, is the only Government who can achieve that.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the completely unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I give notice that I shall seek leave to raise the matter on the Adjournment in the next Parliament.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman is addressing his point of order to the wrong person.