HC Deb 27 February 1978 vol 945 cc67-8W
Mr. Tebbit

asked the Prime Minister (1) if, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition on 21st February, Official Report, c. 1209, concerning major industrial competitor countries of the United Kingdom, he will state which of those countries have a higher level of unemployment on a com, parable basis than the United Kingdom, together with the relevant levels of unemployment;

(2) if, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition on 21st February, Official Report, c. 1209, concerning the worsening of unemployment since 1973, he will publish the statistics upon which he based his statement that the United Kingdom position had in no sense worsened relative to that of our major competitors.

The Prime Minister

I refer the hon. Member to the reply which my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Employment gave to the hon. Member for Chertsey and Walton (Mr. Pattie) on 30th January.

Mr. Tebbit

asked the Prime Minister if, pursuant to his statement that the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition was incorrect in her statement that Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development figures showed that, on a comparable basis, unemployment is worse in the United Kingdom than in the United States, West Germany, France and Italy, he will publish the figures upon which he based his statement.

The Prime Minister

My comments related to the allegation that the Government had no proposals to save jobs.