HC Deb 17 February 1992 vol 204 c11
9. Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to collect statistics on the number of jobs lost to Wales by outward divestment.

Mr. David Hunt

None, Sir.

Mr. Flynn

Have not the three Welsh Office Ministers become the three unwise monkeys of Wales, who neither see, hear nor talk of unemployment, but hide from it, ignoring the jobs lost through outward divestment? Hundreds of those are in Newport and Llanelli. The Government distort the figures by counting 50,000 people twice, but through all the fiddles comes the truth—that in Gwent 20,000 people are out of work, which is 10 per cent. of the work force. Do we have three monkeys or three cheetahs?

Mr. Speaker

I imagine that that is spelt "ahs".

Mr. Hunt

That is a very silly question about a very serious problem. Of course there are difficulties being faced by firms throughout the Principality wemake no secret of that—but according to the statistics, Wales is doing considerably better than many other parts of the United Kingdom and the world in weathering this worldwide recession. The hon. Gentleman should pay attention to the facts.