Unemployment

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 November 1978.

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Photo of Mr Thomas Urwin Mr Thomas Urwin , Houghton-le-Spring 12:00, 24 November 1978

I am grateful for this intervention. The IBM project went to Peterlee because it was felt that a new university of technology was to be built in the area. Peterlee is but a short journey down the A19 into the area of Teesside where the university would have been situated. However, there is still no university of high technology in the area, and I was merely emphasising that both Durham and Newcastle universities are not far from Peterlee. Therefore, there is no valid argument against the idea of a science city.

The theme of this debate is the necessity for much more industrial investment in the Northern region. One has only to think what a large number of new employment opportunities could have been provided in that region if we had had access to the enormous amount of money which has been poured into the British car industry in the past two or three years. What a great number of jobs could have been provided in our region if the Government had listened to our pleas for the establishment of part of the car manufacturing industry in the Northern region. We are as entitled as any other area to be considered for such work.

I suggest also to my hon. Friend the Minister that the construction industry, along with or perhaps in advance of all others, has been and is the most capable of being stimulated in financial terms and should come under close consideration by the Departments concerned with investment. On every occasion when we have economic depression and decline, the building industry is the first hit and loses jobs and skills as a result of inactivity more quickly than any other. At times of economic recovery, the building industry gains jobs at a slower rate than does any other industry and it is always the last to recover from economic depression and decline.

There are some exciting new developments taking place in the coal industry, too, apart from the tingling excitement of INMOS and the silicon chip venture. I said earlier that I represent what can be regarded essentially as a mining constituency. Despite recession in the coal industry, I still have seven coal mines within the geographical limits of my constituency, two of them mining under the North Sea.

The National Coal Board is in the process of producing a plan for the liquefaction of coal. I corresponded with Sir Derek Ezra and with the Secretary of State for Energy earlier this year, having been alerted to what was happening some time ago, and asked for consideration to be given to siting this plant in my constituency. I know that there are greater concentrations of coal mining in other parts of the country but, having regard to the unemployment rates in my area, which are equatable with those of Sunderland and slightly less than in Hartlepool, as my constituency is part of Sunderland and is not far from Hartlepool what better qualification could it have for that kind of investment?

My hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool said that he has a port in his constituency. I have one in mine, too. It is not by any means as important, and sadly not as busy, as Hartlepool's, but the port of Seaham in my constituency is quite an important cog in the industrial structure. Over many years now, the coal trade on which that port was almost exclusively dependent has virtually disappeared.

I am reminded by the reference of my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, South to Battersea power station that most of the coal which fired that power station was transported from the tiny port of Seaham. It came straight out of the pit shafts and into the ships to go by sea to Battersea. I regret as much as he does the forfeiture of job opportunities because of the fate of Battersea power station as we now know it.

Here is another area for investment—in this case an outstanding claim to the European Commission for grant aid, or even a loan, to modify the port of Seaham so that it could in turn diversify in common with the changing industrial infrastructure in the Northern region.

I echo the appeal made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, North for the appointment of a Minister for the North. I held that position for only eight months but I saw enough in that time to convince me that the appointment was justified and that it was a job which was really worth doing. We have already referred to what we regard as the unfair competition in the Cabinet. On occasions when it comes to decisions on industrial matters or the location of industry, whether it be the Ford plant in Wales or whatever it may be, there are people within the Cabinet who are more influential and whose voices are raised loudly, whereas our voices are not even present in whispers to say that our area is entitled to more urgent consideration.

In October 1967 a group of Northern Members, led by myself, interviewed for two and a half hours at No. 10 Downing Street the then Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Huyton (Sir H. Wilson), and he accepted our arguments for the appointment of a Minister for the North. A month later he appointed the then Member for Newtonle-Willows, now my noble Friend Lord Lee in the other place, as the first Minister for the North. Afterwards, for eight months I occupied that position.

What we needed then we need even more now. We need co-ordination within and between Departments—the procuring Departments and those responsible for investment and taking important decisions.

A Minister for the North should be in the Cabinet, which I was not, but there is sufficient scope outside the Cabinet to jostle and to elbow vigorously, to plead and argue, and to demand as well.

I fully support the further claim in that respect of my right hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, North. Unfortunately, the post was made redundant when Labour lost the election in 1970. The then Prime Minister did not think it necessary, presumably, to continue an appointment of that kind. But I sincerely hope that my right hon. Friend the present Prime Minister will do everything he possibly can to that end, and at least take it into consideration in the best interests of the Northern region.