Yorkshire and Humberside Region

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply – in the House of Commons at 9:19 pm on 29 June 1981.

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Photo of Mr Ken Woolmer Mr Ken Woolmer , Batley and Morley 9:19, 29 June 1981

The Minister knows that we are not as naive as that. For example, he mentioned North Yorkshire. The interesting thing is that North Yorkshire, under Conservative control, faces an 8p in the pound rate surcharge, twice as much as the South Yorkshire county council. Humberside, which has just come out of Conservative control, faces a rate penalty of 7½p in the pound which has been imposed by the Government, more than double that facing West Yorkshire county council.

That shows the hypocrisy of Conservative Members who argue that what is needed is more cuts in Government and local authority expenditure. The truth is that there are increasing public squalor and a threat to decent public services. Meanwhile, unemployment approaches the magic figure of 3 million. My message to the Government is to give Yorkshire folk the opportunity to work. Offer people in Yorkshire a job, and the response will be absolutely overwhelming. A vacancy in my area for a general labour handyman with NEGAS recently attracted 200 applicants. A vacancy for a checkout operator in a Yorkshire store paying only £1·40 an hour had 40 applicants. A garage not far from my area advertised for a full-time forecourt attendant, including all day Saturday, paying only £25 a week. As someone said, the Government's philosophy is just like that of Marie Antoinette—"Let them eat cake".

With nearly 300,000 jobless in Yorkshire and Humberside, unemployment is now at a level not seen for almost 50 years. It is still rising. Our great industries of engineering, steel, textiles and clothing have been decimated by the Government's disastrous economic policies. Investment in new machinery and buildings—the seed corn for future growth—is falling rapidly. Prices keep rising, often deliberately pushed up by Government action—for example, council house rents, gas and electricity prices and postal charges. The only thing more difficult to find in Yorkshire than a job is someone who will admit to voting the Conservative Government into office two years ago.

It has been a truly disastrous two years of monetarist madness. The trouble is that it is not hurting the Government. The real hurt is being inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Yorkshire families, plagued by the threat or reality of unemployment and falling living standards. The Government have long ago forfeited the confidence of the North. If the Prime Minister and her doubting Cabinet Ministers do not have the guts to change course, let them give the electorate the opportunity to show their feelings through the ballot box.

Even if the City of London can manage it, the industrial North of England cannot afford—and certainly does not want—this Government in office. Yorkshire's message to the Government is clear: change policies or go, and stand not upon the going.