§ Mr. Allan Roberts (Bootle)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
the announcement by the Metal Box Co. Ltd. that it intends to make 355 people redundant at five different factories throughout the United Kingdom, including 195 at its Aintree factory on Merseyside, which represents the sacking of one-quarter of the Metal Box, Merseyside work force.The matter is, indeed, urgent. First, it is urgent in the light of the massive unemployment level on Merseyside. The Metal Box redundancies came on top of the announcement on the same day by Seagrams that it intends to close its operations on Merseyside with the loss of another 220 jobs.Since the general election, Merseyside has been blitzed by closures and redundancies, one after the other— United Biscuits 2,000 jobs; Purley Oil 128; Binns Ltd. 200; Cadbury Schweppes 315; Perry Brous 140; Nabisco 970; Barclays 127; the National Health Service 560; and now Seagrams and Metal Box are following.
The urgency of the position cannot be exaggerated because Merseyside is being turned into an industrial desert. An urgent debate on that specific issue is necessary because of the reasons provided by the Metal Box management for the redundancies. Its statement makes the issue urgent not only for Merseyside but for the whole nation. We have been told by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the recession is nearly over and that the economy is on the upturn. The Metal Box management explained that the redundancies were due mainly to the generally depressed home and export markets. Yet Metal Box is the sort of company that should be benefiting from any upturn in the economy. But it is not.
It is urgent that we debate the issue because what is happening to Merseyside today will be the fate of the nation tomorrow if urgent action to restore the nation's economy is not taken now.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Bootle (Mr. Roberts) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely,
the announcement by the Metal Box Co. Ltd. that it intends to make 355 people redundant at five different factories throughout the United Kingdom, including 195 at its Aintree factory on Merseyside".I have listened with great care to what the hon. Gentleman said, but I regret that I do not consider the matter to be appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10 and I cannot, therefore, submit his application to the House.