Orders of the Day — Local Employment Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 November 1969.

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Photo of Mr John Osborn Mr John Osborn , Sheffield, Hallam 12:00, 5 November 1969

They are hard to quantify. This is an impression, but it is the impression of many people who are concerned with stagnation in the Provinces. Hon. Members may dispute it and may have factual evidence to support their arguments, but these are certainly the implications of certain sections of the Hunt Committee's Report.

I am not blaming the Socialist Party, although if the process had happened under a Conservative Government, hon. Members opposite would have heavily criticised the Conservatives. There is an inevitability about the growth of power, and the creation of wealth that goes with it, in capital cities. It is happening in the United States of America and throughout Europe where the trends are comparable. The strength of commercial and industrial organisations residing in or near London is increasing particularly it these organisations have an international flavour.

There is a tendency as a result of direct Socialist policy—and I blame hon. Members opposite for this—for more power over the future of industry to concentrate in Whitehall, for instance, with the distribution of investment grants. The drastic extension of nationalisation has meant that the headquarters of the nationalised companies, where the power resides, have moved from individual steelworks, for instance, in the provinces to London—we debated this when we discussed the Steel Bill. Organisations such as the I.R.C. are naturally based in London and the know-how and the consultancy associated with their work must emanate from London.

Hon. Members may dispute this, but some of the symptoms cannot be denied. Overtime, and therefore take-home pay, in the North is down. I have asked Questions of the Board of Trade and I have questioned chambers of trade and other sources, and I am told that retail sales are down in the provinces because of the diminution of the purchasing power of wages. Numbers in employment are undoubtedly down. The percentage of the employed male population aged 15 and over fell by ·2 per cent. for the country as a whole between 1964 and 1968, but by 2·6 per cent. in the North-West and by 3·6 per cent. in Yorkshire and Humberside. The fall in employment was mentioned by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition in his Brighton speech. In the Northern Region there are 66,000 fewer jobs, while in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region there are 106,000 fewer jobs.

The figures for unemployment show that something is happening. In the Yorkshire coalfield area, in October, 1964, the unemployment rate was 1·6 per cent. On 11th August, it was 4·8 per cent. In Castleford, Knottingley, Normanton and Pontefract, it has risen to 4·2 per cent. In the Mexborough-Goldthorpe area it was 2·9 per cent. in 1964 and is 6·5 per cent. now. In Dinnington and Hemsworth, it was 1 per cent. in 1964 and is 5·3 per cent. now.

Therefore, it is necessary to inquire a stage further. In these areas, where the credit squeeze has been felt most, I asked the President of the Board of Trade what has been the rate of windings up, bankruptcies and liquidations, and his Answer will be in HANSARD tomorrow. We should like to know where it is that those in small business are finding it most difficult to stay. This information is not readily available, so far as I know.

All this confirms the view of Sir Joseph Hunt that the outlook for the grey and intermediate areas is indeed grim. We must face this. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough referred to Sheffield and Yorkshire. He outlined the Sheffield problem, but what is remarkable are the delegations that the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs received. There is a delegation from the Socialist controlled Council in Sheffield coming to point out to whichever Minister meets it the difficulties of setting up this new residential and industrial area in Mosborough if it remains outside the intermediate areas. They will ask for intermediate area status.

Sheffield has labour-intensive industries, but they are now becoming capital-intensive. In the last few years, employment has dropped from 39,800 to 34,800 in the metal and engineering industries. There is under-employment, which is eliminating effective overtime. There is the additional problem in Sheffield that many working in the city live outside, in the intermediate areas.

To be positive, I welcome the fact that, in the Yorkshire region, the second Drax station is to be coal-fired, and I have raised with the Minister of Power and with the Electricity Board the virtues and the opportunities arising from this. I hope that the new Minister of State will make certain, now that the Minister of Technology is responsible for power, that those industries with large special requirements near these power stations may have the benefits which have been offered to the aluminium, chemical and other industries. I have recently been shown some statistics which suggest that the price of electricity to many industries in this area is well above that available to the aluminium smelting industry. What more can be done in an area like this?

As for communications, Sheffield still has no airport. Possibly this is just as well, but how can people travel in and out of that area? The city still has the slowest major inter-city service between London and any provincial centre. It still has the worst rolling stock. I hope that the Minister can do something about this. Many of the east-west road links are unsatisfactory. There has been pressure for a motorway across the Pennines to Manchester and Liverpool. This is the type of infrastructure improvement which will help this area.

If I may be negative, one of the difficulties facing the Minister of State is the very existence of the Maud Report and the confusion which it is causing in local government in the industrial regions. I hope that the Minister will comment on this.

There is another point in which I am interested, and on which I have asked a Parliamentary Question. Many industrialists have asked me to explain simply the advantages and disadvantages of what the Government can offer for development in special development areas, intermediate areas, development areas and the ordinary white areas. What are the differences? I wrote to the Board of Trade a few weeks ago and was given the standard document on development areas and the standard document on investment grants. This is not good enough. I hope that, after the passage of the Bill, the Ministers of State will make available to industrialists a simple ABC of what they have done, in this and previous Bills, so that those wanting this information can obtain it easily.

One last drafting point. On pages 1 and 2 of the Bill the phrase occurs, the Minister is of opinion". Is this not an unduly arbitrary power to put in a Minister's hands? Is it not possible to be more definite? Either something is or is not granted to areas in a Bill. In the case of dereliction grants for derelict land and clearance areas, either one is entitled to them or one is not. Could the Minister be more specific in the Bill's drafting in Committee?