§ 21. Mr. FlynnTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the growth rate of output in manufacturing industry since 1979; and how this compares with comparable figures for other industrial countries.
§ Mr. ButcherBetween 1979 and the third quarter of 1987 manufacturing output grew at an annual average rate of 0.2 per cent. But it grew by over 6 per cent, in the latest year.
Between 1979 and the first half of 1987, manufacturing output increased at an annual average rate of 2.5 per cent, in the United States of America, 3.5 per cent, in Japan, and 1 per cent, in Germany while it fell at an average rate of 0.5 per cent, per year in France.