HC Deb 09 May 1995 vol 259 cc549-50
4. Mr. Dunn

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are currently in full-time employment; and if he will make a statement. [21619]

The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Michael Portillo)

Estimates from the labour force survey for the winter of 1994–95 show that there were 19.2 million people in full-time employment in Great Britain. That is an increase of 243,000 since spring 1993.

Mr. Dunn

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that reply. Will he tell the House how many of those people in full-time employment would remain in full-time employment if a minimum wage were introduced and if the strikers charter of the Labour party were adopted?

Mr. Portillo

Of course, if we went back to strikes, that would have a profound impact on job creation and inward investment.

I recently heard the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) promising trade union rights that were not enjoyed under Wilson, Callaghan or Attlee—in other words, not only rolling back all the reforms of Conservative Governments but promising rights to trade unions that have never been enjoyed before. That is the expense of the deal between the Labour party and the trade unions.

As for the number of jobs that a minimum wage would destroy, that depends on the level of the minimum wage, and the Labour party will not tell us the level. That is the most cynical deceit of the British electorate. To come before the people of the country and tell them that they should have a minimum wage but not declare its level is deceitful, and it is hypocrisy. If it were set at the level at which the TUC would like it, it would destroy 750,000 jobs.

Ms Harman

Will the Secretary of State recognise and face up to the fact that is evident to British people—that, as permanent full-time jobs are going, all that people can find in their place are temporary and part-time jobs? Will he admit that the figures show that there are 122,000 fewer full-time jobs in our economy than there were two years ago, and 300,000 more part-time jobs? More and more people are being forced into part-time work, not of their choosing but because the full-time, permanent, secure, decently paid jobs they want are not there in a Tory economy.

Mr. Portillo

It is most interesting that, on the day that the hon. Lady launched a document on the national minimum wage, she is not prepared to mention the subject in the House of Commons. Having given a press conference in which she refused to announce the level of that minimum wage, she refuses again to tell the House of Commons the level at which she would set the minimum wage.

What the hon. Lady did come here and do was ignore the facts, because in the past year, full-time jobs have increased by 204,000 and part-time jobs have increased by only 92,000. Where do those figures come from? They come from the labour force survey that the Labour party has advocated this afternoon, which the TUC tells us is entirely reliable. Why did the hon. Lady take the opportunity to tell the House of Commons that she is prepared to destroy jobs by setting a minimum wage, and why did she not tell us its level?

Mrs. Peacock

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, in the survey to which he refers, only 14 per cent. of those interviewed said that they would prefer to be in full-time employment rather than the part-time employment that they were undertaking at that moment?

Mr. Portillo

My hon. Friend is right. Every Government in Europe want to encourage some part-time employment because, for instance, they want women to be able to combine a job with their family responsibilities. In Britain, thanks to the flexibility that we enjoy, 6 million people are able to combine family responsibilities with part-time work, and, as my hon. Friend said, the vast majority have a part-time job because they want one. The curiosity is that now the Labour party wants to destroy those part-time jobs by introducing the minimum wage. It is the most miserable cynicism, and Labour Members should be ashamed of themselves.