§ 9. Mr. HawkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what practical help his Department offers to potential investors in the United Kingdom. [36860]
§ Mr. HanleyWe give advice to potential investors about opportunities in Britain. We put them in touch with commercial contacts here and we set up fact-finding visits to the United Kingdom. We have had great success in doing so in recent years.
§ Mr. HawkinsI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Will he encourage his officials who are providing 1009 the information to potential inward investors to consider with special care the opportunities in the north-west of England, particularly Blackpool and the Fylde coast, where there is an extremely skilled high-tech work force? Is he aware that the area has not been successful so far in attracting inward investment in any significant quantity from overseas, despite the skill of the work force?
§ Mr. HanleyI hear what my hon. Friend says. Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff overseas promote inward investment to all areas of the United Kingdom and encourage potential investors to take advantage of skilled work forces wherever they are. I shall draw what my hon. Friend has said to their attention.
§ Mr. Tony LloydI welcome every pound of investment that comes into the country, but there is a phenomenon to which I must draw the Minister's attention. Is he aware that it is much easier for a rich Nigerian who is well-connected with the present military Government to enter the United Kingdom than it is for an asylum seeker who is threatened with gaol or worse, who now, under leaked Government proposals, will be told that he or she must return to Nigeria, with all the human rights and civil rights problems that exist there? Is that just and is it fair?
§ Mr. HanleyThe hon. Gentleman opens up a completely different matter. If he tables a question about it, I shall willingly answer.