HC Deb 29 June 1995 vol 262 cc1066-7
2. Mr. Spring

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his assessment of the economic outlook for the Province. [29802]

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. Michael Ancram)

The outlook is very encouraging. Employment and output are rising and unemployment is falling. Business confidence and investment intentions are at high levels. New opportunities are opening up for tourism and inward investment, and exports are increasing as our indigenous companies expand. With continuing peace, Northern Ireland's economic prospects are the best that they have been for a generation.

Mr. Spring

Is my hon. Friend aware that unemployment in Northern Ireland has reached its lowest levels since 1981, that manufacturing output increased by 7 per cent. last year and that exports from Northern Ireland are growing faster than the United Kingdom average? Will my hon. Friend join me in welcoming the announcement of the proposed £100 million investment in the Province by a major supermarket chain which will bring with it 2,000 new jobs? Finally, I suggest that much of that success is due to the wholly improved atmosphere in Northern Ireland which is due in large part to the initiatives undertaken by my right hon. and learned Friend and by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

Mr. Ancram

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for those remarks and I certainly endorse the welcome that he gave to the investment that we are now seeing. I thank him for highlighting the improvements that are occurring in the Northern Ireland economy. It is indicative of how much things have improved that not only has unemployment fallen to its lowest levels since 1981 but also, as of March this year, the number of those in employment has reached a record high. That figure speaks for itself. It is evident that enormous opportunities are available to the people of Northern Ireland in terms of economic growth if peace is sustained and political stability can be achieved. That is what the people of Northern Ireland are asking of their political representatives.

Mr. Beggs

Does the Minister agree that permanent peace will provide a prize in economic terms in which all law-abiding people in Northern Ireland can share? Does he accept that the new investment arising from the successful conferences held in Belfast and Washington, which were promoted by Prime Minister Major and President Clinton, will be of greatest economic benefit if the new jobs created are accessible to both sections of the community so that all can share in the prosperity that follows?

Mr. Ancram

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point. It is absolutely right to underline the fact that peace is the key to future growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland. It is not just temporary peace that will achieve that outcome, but confidence that the peace is permanent. At the end of the day, that can be underlined only by the creation of political stability through political agreement.

I also endorse the hon. Gentleman's comments that inward investment, particularly as a result of the two conferences to which he referred, will bring the greatest degree of confidence to the community in Northern Ireland if the benefits of that investment are shared as widely as possible.

Mr. Peter Robinson

Does the Minister accept that the economy of Northern Ireland would be boosted considerably if Shorts, as part of the Westland team, were successful in securing the Ministry of Defence's order for attack helicopters with its Apache version? Does the Minister recognise that that would open the way for Starstreak to be used in the United States? Does he accept that the Government should push from within the Cabinet to ensure that the order goes to Westland and that Shorts benefits as a result?

Mr. Ancram

Again, I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for those remarks. I agree with what he has said and I assure him that my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State has been talking to the appropriate people in this instance, in particular Commerce Secretary Brown.

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