§ 8. Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he intends to take to increase investment in the Scottish economy and to reduce unemployment.
§ Mr. LangThe first step needed to increase investment in the Scottish economy and to reduce unemployment was the re-election of a Conservative Government. This we have now secured. Returning confidence, low inflation and a stable economic environment will lead to increased investment and more jobs.
§ Mr. McLeishThat was a disgraceful and characteristically complacent response from the Secretary of State. At a time when 250,000 Scots are unemployed, why can the Government provide only 3,000 temporary work places? When 10,000 young Scots have no income whatever and when only 500 vacancies exist in the careers offices and the youth guarantee scheme has fallen apart, why do they do nothing to assist? Scotland needs a Government committed to an industrial strategy in the 1990s. What does the Secretary of State intend to do about the crisis in Scotland, which the Government have failed to deal with in the past 13 years?
§ Mr. LangThe hon. Gentleman fails to recognise that the last published figures of the number of people employed in Scotland showed that there were 2,294,000—the highest number of people in employment on record. In addition, for the first time on record, unemployment in Scotland is lower than in the rest of the United Kingdom. Therefore, it is clear that the Scottish economy is stronger, broader based, more modernised and readier to take advantage of the economic upturn when it comes than it has been for a long time. That reflects on the Conservative Government.
§ Sir Nicholas FairbairnI congratulate my right hon. Friend on emphasising the fact that never before have so many people been employed in Scotland.
§ Mr. McLeishThat is not true.
§ Sir Nicholas FairbairnOh, yes, it is true. If the hon. Member for Fife, Central (Mr. McLeish) read The Courier, he would know that every week hundreds of job vacancies are advertised and every week only one is filled. How is it that so many people in Fife, Central and Perthshire are seeking jobs, yet nobody seems to want jobs?
§ Mr. LangMy hon. and learned Friend makes a valid point. It was interesting that the job vacancy figures rose again last month, and have risen in successive months recently so that they now stand at a high level. A significant sign of returning confidence is that, since the general election, no fewer than five important inward investment decisions have been taken and announced, involving investment worth more than £50 million in Scotland and more than 900 jobs.
§ Mr. WorthingtonThe Secretary of State's claim that there are more people in employment now in Scotland than there were in 1979 is simply untrue, and I challenge him to produce the figures. Is it not true that, although anyone working more than 16 hours a week is now classified as being in full-time employment, there are more than 200,000 fewer people employed in Scotland than in 1979?
§ Mr. LangThe hon. Gentleman's figures must be incorrect as I have given the latest figure showing that 2,294,000 people are employed in Scotland at present. I wish that Labour Members would occasionally welcome good news and talk Scotland up for a change, instead of constantly talking it down.