HC Deb 14 June 1995 vol 261 cc782-4
6. Mr. Riddick

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps his Department is taking to encourage job creation in the industrial sector. [26808]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Industry and Energy (Mr. Richard Page)

Jobs are dependent on the competitiveness of the wealth-creating sector. The steps that the Government are taking to promote competitiveness are set out in the recent White Paper, "Competitiveness: Forging Ahead".

The success of our policies is clear. Unemployment fell further today—the 21st fall in a row. Nearly two thirds of a million people have left the register since December 1992, total employment has risen substantially over the past year and manufacturing employment is up by 31,000.

Mr. Riddick

Will my hon. Friend welcome the fact that in May unemployment fell not only throughout the country but in Colne Valley? Is he aware that manufacturing industry is extremely important in and around my constituency and that the key factor in increasing employment in the industrial sector is to maintain and improve competitiveness? Towards that end, will he confirm that the Government will have nothing whatever to do with Labour's twin job destroyers, the social chapter and a national minimum wage?

Mr. Page

My hon. Friend makes the point about the social chapter in a powerful and sensible fashion. Unemployment in the United Kingdom has fallen over the years, thanks not only to the Government but to the Prime Minister in obtaining the opt-out from the social chapter. My hon. Friend and the House may be interested to know that in the United Kingdom since 1993 unemployment has fallen from 10.3 per cent. to 8.6 per cent. while in the European Union it has risen from 10.7 per cent. to 11 per cent., in France it has risen from 11.7 per cent. to 12.2 per cent., and in Germany it has risen from 6.1 per cent. to 6.8 per cent. It is a matter of amazement to me that the Labour party wishes to embrace the social chapter and throw hundreds of thousands of workers on to the scrap heap.

Mrs. Dunwoody

I am sure that we are all grateful to the Minister for that lesson in what happens to those who are not party to the exchange rate mechanism. What message does he have for the railway manufacturing industry in this country, which is increasingly being forced into bankruptcy, not because it is not capable of producing jobs and manufactured goods but because the Government, in the total chaos of railway privatisation, have left it with empty order books and a large number of jobs at risk?

Mr. Page

As the hon. Lady knows, the matter of placing orders for the railway industry is the responsibility of British Rail and not the Government. Whenever Governments have tried to interfere in the purchasing process, they have usually made a complete and utter mess of it. I need only cite the National Enterprise Board and the chaos and confusion when the Labour Government tried to run various bits of the industry.

Mr. Tredinnick

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most impressive examples of job creation is in Hinckley, in my constituency, where the motor cycle plant is exporting 10,000 motor cycles a year? Is he aware that Triumph is No. 2 in the league in Great Britain and expects to increase its exports by 60 per cent. next year?

Mr. Page

My hon. Friend tells us a success story. It is an amazing fact that Opposition Members always try to condemn success stories. I am surprised that they do not talk more about the success of the Invest in Britain Bureau. I am sure that the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair), for example, is delighted that Black and Decker has brought 300 jobs to his constituency, and no doubt the hon. Member for Blyth Valley (Mr. Campbell) is happy that CMC has brought 550 jobs to his constituency. I look across the Chamber and see the hon. Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham), to whose constituency the Koyo Bearings factory, which I visited the other day, has brought an extra 200 jobs. Then I look at the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle), in whose constituency Bristol-Myers Squibb has created 161 jobs. I could go on for hours with the list of successes whereby in the years since 1979 a total of 700,000 extra jobs have been brought to this country. That is a success story.