Orders of the Day — The Economy

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:25 pm on 18 July 1994.

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Photo of Kenneth Clarke Kenneth Clarke The Chancellor of the Exchequer 4:25, 18 July 1994

I shall give way later.

We fought in Europe, and we shall continue to do so, against the imposition of unnecessary labour market regulations, which impose additional costs on employers, and ultimately destroy jobs. We understand that job creation is the key to improving the fortunes of the low paid. Placing burdens on employers only prices the low paid out of work and creates more misery, not less.

Our approach to labour market flexibility—to deregulation of those markets—is being followed increasingly throughout the world. It was endorsed at the job summit in Detroit; it was endorsed at the recent Corfu summit in Europe; it runs all the way through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report that we recently discussed in Paris.

The Labour party is out of step. We have one of the most modern, flexible labour markets in the western world, and that is one of the principal reasons why we attract 40 per cent. of all the inward investment into the European Union, and why we continue to be such an attractive place for investment to create new jobs.