HC Deb 12 February 1992 vol 203 cc973-4
19. Mr. McMaster

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has recently received about manufacturing output.

Mr. Lilley

I have received the recent excellent report by the CBI's manufacturing advisory group which showed that there has been a transformation in manufacturing performance during the 1980s.

Mr. McMaster

With output in the construction industry falling to its lowest level for six years and the industry predicting a further 50,000 job losses this year, when will the Secretary of State stop his policy paralysis and start listening to people in industry who know what they are talking about? Will he now start an emergency investment programme? When will the Secretary of State stop attacking good advice and start attacking the recession?

Mr. Lilley

The hon. Gentleman surely realises that the key to success in that industry is lower interest rates and that the key to lower interest rates is lower inflation. All the policies that the hon. Gentleman and his party advocate would move us in exactly the opposite direction.

Mr. Batiste

Is my right hon. Friend aware that constituencies such as mine in Leeds have been very considerable beneficiaries of investment in a wide range of different industries? For example, this year alone we shall see the commissioning of chemical and textile plants. We are beneficiaries to the extent of a 20 per cent. reduction in unemployment since the time of the last general election. What those industries fear more than anything else is interference by the Government and the European Commission, interference in the choice of products that they can make, interference in the work patterns that they can enjoy and interference in their wage rates. The more successful my right hon. Friend is in resisting that interference, the greater will be the level of investment in this country.

Mr. Lilley

Everything that my hon. Friend says is echoed by the business men I meet. They know that the greatest damage would be done to this economy by raising taxes, by imposing a minimum wage and by restoring artificial trade union powers. They do not want it. They reject it. They are determined that we continue with the strategy which, as the Confederation of British Industry says, has restored the health of manufacturing industry and revived the strength of the British economy during the 1980s.