North West Regional Assembly (Hansard, 19 October 1988)

§ Mr. lan McCartney (Makerfield)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the establishment of an elected North West Regional Assembly as a regional authority and of a North West Development Agency, and to specify their functions and powers; and for other purposes. When a devolution Bill was last introduced in the House it brought down the then Government. I sincerely hope that my personal proposal will have the same result.

The concept of devolved government for the regions of England, and the north-west especially, is not a publicity stunt. It is a genuine attempt fairly to redraw the political and industrial map of the United Kingdom. The north-west region comprises the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire and the industrial conurbations of Greater Manchester and Merseyside. It has a population of 7 million, and since the industrial revolution it has been one of the two great engines of the British economy. About 4 million people live in the Liverpool-Manchester industrial corridor, and last year they contributed over £31 billion to the nation's economy. That represented 11 per cent. of the wealth creation of the United Kingdom. We are the second most important wealth-creating region in the United Kingdom. Our contribution to the United Kingdom is larger than the income of Greece, which is an equal partner m the European Community.

It is tragic that under the present Government the people of the north-west have been prevented from participating in wealth creation. We are ruled over and bludgeoned by a Government of the south-east who are in and for the south-east. The Prime Minister talks of glasnost and perestroika, but these policies are not put into practice in Britain. Double standards are applied when it comes to listening to the needs of the northern parts of the nation. Since the Prime Minister came to power, unemployment in the north-west has shot up by 91 per cent. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Eccles (Miss Lestor) and my other colleagues who have stood four square against the 1,200 redundancies announced at the Royal Ordnance factory at Patricroft. We shall not desert the work force or throw it to the asset-stripping wolves of the City of London who are growing fat on the Government's privatisation programme at the expense of the north-west industrial base.

Manufacturing employment in the north-west has fallen by more than 38 per cent. since the Government came to power. Over 350,000 of my fellow north-west citizens have been out of work since 1979. North-west weekly earnings are slipping behind those for the rest of the country. In 1979, male average weekly earnings were £9.30 less than those in the south-east. In 1987, the gap leaped to a staggering £41.60. Local services and democracy are suffering as well. Rate support grant for local authorities in the north-west has been cut by a staggering £1 billion by the Government. Housing improvement programmes have been cut by 80 per cent. Homelessness has increased by 200 per cent., and house building has declined by 35 per cent. There has been a net loss of 20,000 skilled jobs in the north-west construction industry. The Health Service within the region is also in crisis, with 96,000 of my fellow north-west citizens on waiting lists. About 25,000 of them have been on lists for 908 over a year. Is the House aware that 6,400 hospital beds have been closed? The community care programme has been all but suspended.

Those of us who live in the north-west and who are committed to it are hitting back. Local government and private enterprise initiatives are trying to promote tourism, inward investment, alternative industries, improvement of the infrastructure, the utilisation of derelict land and the initiation of meaningful training programmes.

For ideological reasons the Government continue to undermine the most successful municipal airport in the world. Manchester International airport is under pressure in respect of second terminal investment, and the Government have refused to allow the airport to have additional air routes to Europe and the United States. That means that 1,100,000 north-westerners are forced each year to fly from Heathrow or Gatwick, at considerable extra expense, instead of from their own airport. Under the threat of privatisation, one of the great success stories of north-west industry has been put at risk. That is the result of the Government's ideology.

With the abolition of the strategic Greater Manchester council and Merseyside county council, the Government have almost wiped out strategic planning for two thirds of the region. My Bill is about bringing democratic government to the north-west, in the north-west and for the north-west. It would provide for the formation of a 158-member assembly on a four-year fixed term. It would be responsible for strategic social and economic policy initiatives.

The Bill provides for the establishment of a north-west regional development agency. which would be similar to the Scottish Development Agency. Its membership would come from local government, industry, banking and commerce, the trade unions and higher and further education. Its job would be to further economic development, maintain employment, promote industrial efficiency and competitiveness and improve the environment.

We want to create an office of the north-west to co-ordinate and administer the activities of all Government Departments in the region. We want a Minister for the north-west who will be accountable to Parliament and will report to the regional assembly.

The north-west is not looking for favours at the expense of the nations of Scotland and Wales or of other hard-pressed English regions. However, there is a growing feeling among the people—whether they be industrialists, community groups, local government officers, trade unionists or members of chambers of commerce—that there is sufficient talent, skill, ideas and vision to ensure that, if the region is given a chance and resources, those with ideas and vision can rebuild the north-west and govern it to the eternal benefit of the region and of the United Kingdom as a whole.