HC Deb 21 February 1984 vol 54 cc705-6 3.58 pm
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 sacking of 700 workers at Scotts Bakery, Bootle, Merseyside and the proposed closure of this factory, which will increase the already massively high unemployment level on Merseyside.

I apologise to the House for having once again to raise the issue of a major closure on Merseyside. The House is becoming too accustomed to this having to be done as Merseyside has closure after closure. It was on Monday 16 January that I raised the issue of a dispute at Scotts, which I then predicted would be used by the management as an excuse to close the factory. That has now happened.

This is a specific matter as the 90-day redundancy notices have already been served. They were served on the work force at the end of last week. The management of Allied Bakeries have announced the closure of their Merseyside factory following the industrial dispute that all objective observers claim and admit to have been precipitated by the management.

The matter is urgent because of the hardship that will be visited upon the employees at Scotts and their families by the sackings and the closure. It is another major blow to Merseyside. Once again, another long-established family company on Merseyside is to be closed by a multinational company which took over the factory and has no commitment to the local work force or to the Merseyside area, its headquarters being situated elsewhere. The matter is urgent because of the actions of management who, throughout the dispute, have behaved in a high-handed and contemptible manner, confronting the work force with totally unacceptable demands and behaving not even like Victorian employers but more like medieval barons. The job losses and the shut-down are only the latest in a long list of closures and redundancies which are announced weekly on Merseyside. They are usually announced on Fridays. Fridays are known on Merseyside now as black Fridays. My hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry) recently raised the question of the closure of British American Tobacco, which also employs many of my constituents. When will the closures and redundancies cease?

The matter is urgent because of the scale of the crisis on Merseyside. A debate is needed to enable us to call on the Government to intervene in order to create and save jobs.

The events at Scotts Bakery have a national significance because they are likely to be the cause of a national bread strike. The Bakers Union is to ballot its members on the issue. I hope that you, Mr. Speaker, will grant an emergency debate at this stage in the sad saga rather than wait until you can no longer buy bread because of a national bread strike.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member for Bootle (Mr. Roberts) has asked leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the sacking of 700 workers at Scotts Bakery, Bootle, Merseyside and the proposed closure of this factory, which will increase the already massively high unemployment level on Merseyside.

I have listened carefully to what the hon. Gentleman has said. I appreciate that further unemployment in Merseyside is a very serious matter. Nevertheless, I regret that I do not consider that the matter he has raised is appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10, and I cannot therefore submit his application to the House.