Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 5:09 pm on 28 February 1991.
The first time I went underground at a pit was in Wales, although not in south Wales—at the Point of Ayr. I have gone underground several times in Wales, and I never cease to be impressed by the resource of those involved in deep coal mining, and the way in which they try to overcome the geological problems. I think that the hon. Gentleman would be the first to admit that these problems are real and often intense, and that is why I disagree with his conclusion.
The Government's policy is well known: it is to defeat inflation. It is working—inflation is clearly falling, and interest rates are beginning to follow suit. Once they are plainly on a downward trend, investment and growth will start to pick up again. I believe that the Welsh economy is extremely healthy—much healthier than the Opposition had any right to expect, given the state in which they left it in 1979.
The hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mr. Jones) can, and probably will, furnish us with a list of industries and factories which are experiencing difficulties. In the past year, probably the most serious was the decision by United Engineering Steels to close its plant at Brymbo, outside Wrexham. I acknowledge that that was a terrible blow to the local people. I went to Brymbo last Friday, and heard from them about the extent of their problems. I hope, however, that the hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside will himself acknowledge the amount of effort that the Government have put into alleviating the effect on the local economy. On Friday I announced a further £1·85 million in aid for projects affected by the Brymbo closure, which brings to over £8 million the resources directed towards mitigating the effects of the closure on the area. In addition, there has been the European regional development fund grant of £2,229,000.
The Government will respond to the occasional set-backs in the Welsh economy, but we are encouraged about its longer-term prospects. The CBI has made it clear that those prospects are even brighter than those in the rest of the United Kingdom, and I believe that the medium to longer-term prospects are as good as ever.