§ 4. Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)If he will make a statement on the level of business confidence in the manufacturing sector in Scotland. [41253]
§ The Minister for Education and Industry, Scottish Office (Mr. Brian Wilson)I have frequent discussions with many manufacturing firms across Scotland. Underlying business confidence remains strong.
§ Mr. SwayneDoes the Minister agree that the problems experienced by Mitsubishi and by Lite-on reinforce the need for Scottish Enterprise and Locate in Scotland to retain their autonomy and not to be subject to empire building by the Department of Trade and Industry, which would run counter to the devolution policy for which we are both such enthusiasts?
§ Mr. WilsonI am astonished to hear such sound common sense from the hon. Gentleman. It is important for Scottish Enterprise and Locate in Scotland to maintain their ability to work so effectively for Scotland. There will be setbacks with inward investment, just as there are setbacks with indigenous companies, but there is a lot more good news than bad, and that will continue.
§ Mr. David Marshall (Glasgow, Shettleston)Does the Minister agree that, under the previous Government, Locate in Scotland's record of attracting manufacturing jobs to the city of Glasgow was dreadful, probably directly as a result of the anti-Glasgow bias of Tory Ministers in the Scottish Office? Will he give an assurance that he will make every effort to attract manufacturers to locate and expand in Glasgow and that the previous policy will be reversed?
§ Mr. WilsonI have no knowledge of such a policy having existed. Locate in Scotland does extremely well in bringing companies to Scotland, but the location that a company prefers is very much a matter for the company, so I shall not go down that road. I can speak only for the past year: Locate in Scotland and the Government have done extremely well in bringing extra jobs into Glasgow through inward investment. I intend that to continue and I assure my hon. Friend that there is more good news on the way.
§ Dr. Liam Fox (Woodspring)How can any hon. Member or anyone outside the House accept the Minister's assurances on manufacturing when it is technically in recession, inflation is at a six-year high, class sizes are going up, waiting lists are going up and the Scottish nationalists are on the march—all as a result of this incompetent Administration?
§ Mr. WilsonI can only sympathise with the hon. Gentleman on the doom-laden world in which he lives. I assure him that if he comes up to Scotland he will find that quite a lot of things are going very well.