Michelin Tyre (Redundancies) (Hansard, 9 January 1985)

§ Mr. Jack Ashley (Stoke-on-Trent, South)

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, redundancies at the Michelin Tyre company in Stoke-on-Trent. The matter is specific, because the Michelin Tyre company announced yesterday that tyre production in Stoke-on-Trent was to be slashed, and that 2,400 workers there would soon lose their jobs. It is important, because the lives of thousands of workers will be transformed. They will be plunged into the poverty of unemployment and, unless something is done about it, into the despair of long-term unemployment. They will even, tragically, be denied hope for future jobs for their children. I am pleased to see that the Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry is present.

The matter is important also, because the dismissal of 2,400 workers shows that there is no steady economic recovery as the Government have claimed. It gives an ominous warning to the whole of British industry that if an efficient manufacturing firm such as Michelin cannot compete effectively at home and abroad, given the low value of the pound, then British firms are far more vulnerable to foreign competition than anyone has yet admitted.

The matter is urgent, because most of the workers are to lose their jobs by the end of April. The redundancies will add 2,400 to the already high unemployment total of 24,000 in north Staffordshire, giving a rate of about 13.5 per cent. It is calculated by Keele university that the knock-on effect — the kind of Maynard Keynes multiplier in reverse—will add a further 1,600, making a total of 4,000 more unemployed people in the area. If 782 these figures are correct, the unemployment rate will shoot up to 14.4 per cent.—well over the national average of 13.2 per cent.

The matter it is also urgent—I address the Minister of State, Department of Industry, directly — because only a few weeks ago the Government designated areas for regional aid which excluded north Staffordshire. But in the light of these new circumstances, there should obviously be an immediate reappraisal. We need to debate the fact that the case for north Staffordshire to be given Government aid, formerly powerful, is now overwhelming and very urgent. In addition, emergency aid for north Staffordshire is now vital.

The matter is also urgent because the Michelin company needs help both to reduce the immediate job losses and to preserve tyre-making capacity for the future. We need to debate, as a matter of urgency, how the Government can advise and aid manufacturing companies such as the Michelin company, which are being crucified by foreign competition.

Unless action is taken very soon for the whole of British industry as well as for Michelin and north Staffordshire, our national manufacturing capacity will suffer a dramatic decline and we shall become a nationally derelict area. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you will allow time to be found for an emergency debate on these vital issues.