Optical Factory (Kidwelly) (Hansard, 14 June 1990)

§ Mr. Denzil Davies (Llanelli)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House under Standing Order No. 20 for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, The shock closure yesterday of a factory owned by United Kingdom Optical Ltd. in the town of Kidwelly in my constituency with the loss of 200 jobs. The factory is probably the largest manufacturer of lenses for spectacles in the United Kingdom.

The matter is important because the economic and social consequences will be devastating for the small town of Kidwelly and the surrounding villages. The lost production will almost certainly be taken up by imports, thus making the United Kingdom's horrendous balance of payments deficit even worse. It is also important because the company has publicly stated that one of the reasons for the closure is that sales of lenses for spectacles have fallen by 30 per cent. as a result of the Government's imposition of charges for eye testing. That is directly contrary to the recent assertion by the Secretary of State for Health that there has been no reduction in demand. Clearly, the market knows more than the Minister.

For those reasons, I respectfully ask you, Mr. Speaker, to consider that the closure of the factory is a matter for urgent debate.

§ Mr. Speaker

The right hon. Member for Llanelli (Mr. Davies) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House under Standing Order No. 20 for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely, The closure of United Kingdom Optical Ltd. with a loss of approximately 20 jobs. I listened with care to what the right hon. Gentleman said. As he knows, the difficult decision that I have to make in these matters is whether his application should have precedence over the business set down for today or for Monday.

I regret that the matter that the hon. Gentleman has raised does not meet the criteria laid down in the Standing Order and I cannot, therefore, submit his application to the House.