§ Q27. Mr. Loydenasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his visit to Merseyside.
§ The Prime MinisterI went to Merseyside on 3rd September during my visit to the North-West. My visit greatly helped my understanding of the area and its problems. I had valuable talks with trade unionists, managers, members of the Economic Planning Council and local councillors. These highlighted the matters of major concern to Merseyside—high unemployment and the need for extensive physical renewal.
As I stressed repeatedly during my visit, it is of fundamental importance to secure the regeneration of industry if we are to devote more resources to acute urban problems such as those on Merseyside. There are great opportunities for industrial expansion, as I saw, for instance, when I visited Skelmersdale and when I visited the site of a new factory being built to help provide more jobs in the inner area, part of the largest advance factory programme ever mounted by Government on Merseyside.