Recession

Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Industry – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 February 1992.

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Photo of David Clelland David Clelland , Tyne Bridge 12:00, 12 February 1992

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the long-term effects of the recession in industry.

Photo of Peter Lilley Peter Lilley Secretary of State for Trade

British industry is well placed to grow as we recover from the recession.

Photo of David Clelland David Clelland , Tyne Bridge

Does the Secretary of State recall that in the last recession under this Government the collapse of manufacturing industry was said to be making it leaner and fitter to face the future? Ten years on, and having lost more than 150,000 manufacturing jobs in the northern region alone, manufacturing is faced with yet another recession, only this time, far from leanness and fitness, it is faced with malnutrition and is dangerously near the point of no return. With 6,000 manufacturing jobs being lost every week and 1,000 businesses a week going under, what action does he intend to take before more of our industrial capacity is lost altogether?

Photo of Peter Lilley Peter Lilley Secretary of State for Trade

We are used to the Labour party believing that it can talk up its support by talking the country down. The hon. Member believes that he should talk down his own region and constituency. I notice that the Newcastle Journal has the headline "North-East bucks the trend with firms taking on more workers", and I am sure that the hon. Member will be delighted that Vickers in his constituency, making the new tank, has excellent opportunities at home and export prospects abroad. They would be helped by, and I am sure that they would welcome, a positive, upbeat statement from the hon. Member about the revived and renewed prospects for the north-east, which has been transformed not least by inward investment which is threatened by the Front Bench of the Labour party.

Photo of Mr David Sumberg Mr David Sumberg , Bury South

Is my right hon. Friend aware that when the shadow Chancellor recently visited the James Halstead group in my constituency—it employs more than 400 people and is successful in making good profits—he expressed satisfaction to the local media that most of the technology that he saw was British-made and that most of it had been made 20 miles from Bury? Would it not be a good idea if the Opposition actually trumpeted these successes in the British manufacturing industry instead of moaning and complaining and doing British industry down?

Photo of Peter Lilley Peter Lilley Secretary of State for Trade

Absolutely. I noticed that this did not feature in their party political broadcast, wrongly entitled "Made in Britain" and alleging that virtually nothing was made in Britain, when we not only have the successes mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, South (Mr. Sumberg) in his constituency but export far more television sets than we import and make the best hi-fi in the world, and when one in ten personal computers sold in the world are made in this country—in Scotland.

Photo of Nigel Griffiths Nigel Griffiths , Edinburgh South

Will the Secretary of State confirm that, since the beginning of 1990, manufacturing investment has fallen by 35 per cent? Will he tell the House why he has rejected the CBI's call for investment incentives and investment strategies?

Photo of Peter Lilley Peter Lilley Secretary of State for Trade

The CBI urges people not to take a short-term view, as the hon. Gentleman does in considering only a 12-month period. If we take a 10-year view, we see that manufacturing investment is up by a third in comparison with a similar part of the same cycle. I believe that, as we come out of the recession, we shall find that British industry is much stronger than it was during the same period at the beginning of the 1980s, and that it will prosper mightily during the remainder of the 1990s.