§ 82. Sir C. Osborneasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that since January 1966 one out of every 10 Lancashire cotton workers, or 15,000 people, have been made unemployed as a direct consequence of Government policy; and, since another 100,000 are likely to become jobless leaving only 50,000 in the industry, if he will now seek to alter that policy so as to protect their livelihood.
§ Mr. JayI cannot accept the hon. Member's assumptions which are inaccurate and ill-informed. Unemployment in the cotton belt is below the national average. This Government have done more than any other to provide a stable background of imports so that the industry can carry forward a programe of reorganisation.