Unemployment

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply – in the House of Commons at 9:30 pm on 27 July 1982.

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Photo of Mr Norman Tebbit Mr Norman Tebbit , Waltham Forest Chingford 9:30, 27 July 1982

I am sorry that the House is not in a more serious mood for a debate that takes place against a grim background of world unemployment.

It is only right to congratulate the right hon. Member for Stepney and Poplar on reading stalwartly through his script and refusing to give way at any point to answer questions, even from his hon. Friends. It is no wonder that the right hon. Gentleman did not wish to give way because he spent 27 minutes on a standard whine and less than three minutes telling us what his right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition so recently described as a detailed blueprint for the return to full employment. All that we heard on the subject was that there should be a strong stimulus and that nationalised industries should be allowed to invest more.

Is the right hon. Member for Stepney and Poplar aware that this year nationalised industries are programmed to spend about 26 per cent. more on capital expenditure than they spent last year? Last year British Telecom, which he singled out for special mention, could not spend the sums of money that were allocated to it. He must do much better than that. I shall return later to that detailed blueprint and the missing ingredient that the right hon. Gentleman again failed to mention—the incomes policy. Does he need an incomes policy or not? I am willing to give way to the right hon. Gentleman. He gave his recipe for the restoration of full employment. Does it include an incomes policy?