§ 15. Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement about the level of unemployment in Yorkshire and Humberside.
Mr. JacksonSeasonally adjusted unemployment in the Yorkshire and Humberside region was 220,000 in September 1991. This represents 9.1 per cent. of the region's work force. Unemployment in September was 74,000 lower than at its peak in July 1986.
§ Mr. HinchliffeBearing in mind the fact that the Wakefield area alone has lost about 20,000 mining-related jobs since 1979, what assessment have the Government made of the implications for employment prospects in that area of the delay in constructing the channel tunnel rail link to Yorkshire? Is not it disgraceful that the Government appear to be more concerned with the interests and problems of certain Tory marginals in London than with the employment potential of thousands of jobs in the north of England?
Mr. JacksonI shall draw the hon. Gentleman's question to the attention of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Transport because it relates to his Department. As for my Department, I have already said in answering the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist) in relation to large-scale redundancies in the coal mining industry that I shall ensure that the Employment Service is providing a full service in this case, as in all other cases of large-scale redundancies.