§ 4. Mrs. Diana Organ (Forest of Dean)If she will make a statement about the competitiveness of British manufacturing industry. [40956]
§ The Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs (Mr. Nigel Griffiths)United Kingdom manufacturing productivity is 20 per cent. lower than that in Germany and France and 40 per cent. lower than that in the United States. It is critical that we improve. Last year, my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade established six business-led working parties whose conclusions are shaping the forthcoming White Paper on competitiveness.
§ Mrs. OrganIn shaping the future White Paper on competitiveness, what assessment has the Department of Trade and Industry made of manufacturing output, investment and employment during the period July 1989 to April 1992?
§ Mr. GriffithsOutput fell by 2 per cent. a year on average, investment fell by 7.8 per cent. and 750,000 people in manufacturing lost their jobs. Throughout those years, the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) was a Minister at the Department of Trade and Industry presiding over the decline. Under my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, the last three months' figures show that manufacturing output, exports and employment are up.
§ Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle)Does the Minister recall that, when the dollar was floated in 1971, there were DM8.5 to the pound compared with a little under DM3 today and 600 yen to the pound compared with a little over 200 today, yet in the 25 years that followed the Smithsonian conference in 1971 the German and Japanese economies not only prospered, but their productivity outpaced that of all other industrial countries in the world? Does not that show that a strong currency, if properly handled by industry, can be of immense benefit to an exporting industrial economy? Is that not in fact the real nature of the golden economic legacy the Government have inherited from the Conservative Government?
§ Mr. GriffithsFar from it. If the hon. Gentleman cares to join me in talking to the CBI and manufacturers throughout Britain he will realise that they know that the previous Government's record on manufacturing and business was abysmal. It is fortunate that in the past quarter figures have improved and that the Government have taken firm steps which, had they been taken 18 years ago, would have put our business record on a much better track.