§ 2. Mr. WoodTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the growth during the 1980s of manufacturing productivity in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) other major industrial countries.
§ The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Richard Ryder)The average growth of output per person employed in United Kingdom manufacturing industry between 1980 and 1988 was 5.3 per cent., contrasted with 3.4 per cent. for the other Group of Seven economies.
§ Mr. WoodI thank my hon. Friend for that encouraging response. Is not it also true that productivity in British industry has risen substantially above that in Japan? Does my hon. Friend agree that extra investment in new manufacturing industry, such as is happening in Stevenage, where over £600 million is being spent by Glaxo, British Aerospace and other companies, is the answer, to ensure that we have good manufacturing prospects?
§ Mr. RyderI agree entirely with my hon. Friend's latter point. On his first point, manufacturing productivity growth in Britain over the past decade has been higher than that of any other leading western nation, including the United States and Japan.
§ Mr. SkinnerWhy does not the Minister tell the whole story about productivity in manufacturing? Why does not he also say that during the past 10 years of this Tory Government, more than 900,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Great Britain, many of them in the north and the west midlands? Will he also say that in West Germany there is a balance of payments surplus, equivalent to £50 billion, while Britain is running a balance of payments deficit of £20 billion? There is the contrast.
§ Mr. RyderThe hon. Gentleman may not know that manufacturing employment has been falling in every leading western nation for the past decade and more. Furthermore, manufacturing unemployment did not start rising in 1979, when this Conservative Government came to office, or in 1970 when the previous Conservative Government came to office. Manufacturing employment began to fall in 1966, the year that a Labour Government were re-elected.
§ Mr. MarlowWhat is my hon. Friend's view on bringing about a major increase in the productivity of East German manufacturing industry, by British taxpayers providing vast amounts of money through the European Community budget to improve East German manufacturing industry?
§ Mr. RyderEarlier this week, I attended a meeting of Ecofin in Brussels at which the West German Finance Minister told us about the latest developments in the sphere to which my hon. Friend referred. It is inconceivable that the West German Finance Minister is unaware of my hon. Friend's views.