First, I congratulate the Minister for Competitiveness, who I understand is not here tonight because his wife has been safely delivered of a baby boy.

I welcome this opportunity to bring to the attention of the House a matter of some concern to my constituents. Newark is a historic market town—it is not, however, a sleepy market town. In common with many other east midlands town, for many years Newark relied for its employment on heavy engineering. Local engineering has now finished, but at its peak, businesses in the area might have employed at least 1,000 people.

Newark has moved with the times, however, and is now well known as a centre for food manufacturing. Everything from cream cakes to spring rolls are manufactured in Newark. We have a skilled work force who make products to the most stringent standards. Recently, one of the food companies in the town closed, with the loss of 700 jobs. In addition, the collapse of Coats Viyella, a company that supplied Marks & Spencer, has meant that 1,000 jobs were lost in Newark—a devastating blow to the town, which has a travel-to-work population of about 50,000.

The town has a great deal to commend it. Newark has railway links into the county; it also has the advantage of being on the Al. I need remind no one why the industrial revolution occurred in certain locations. Newark is surrounded by agriculture and horticulture—dairy produce and fruit could easily be transported to the area. The town has ideal communication links; it is set on the Al and the east coast main line runs through it. The work force are skilled in food manufacturing and the Labour-led district council understands the value of inward investment and is committed to providing work for local people.

One would think that the future was promising. However, I fear that it is not. There is one enormous stumbling block for Newark: it cannot offer new or relocating companies any significant grant aid. The north Nottinghamshire training and enterprise council and Nottinghamshire county council can offer some support, but nothing that is significant for large companies.

There has been much controversy over the new assisted area status maps—I was disappointed that several Newark wards were excluded. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) has recently expressed similar concerns in the Chamber, and that they are shared by the Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting and by my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Mr. Pope).

The allocation of European Union grants has never been without controversy, and I was also disappointed that Newark was not part of an objective 2 area. That was because the town was not close to a large urban area.

To make matters worse, grants available on the demise of the coalfields left Newark just outside the travel-to-work area, with no acknowledgement of the fact that, as one of the towns nearest to pits in the south of the area, miners would have spent a great deal of their income in the town. Retailers in the area suffered quite badly.

Newark also suffers from its geographical location. Mansfield to the north-west offers significant assistance to new and relocating companies. I shall illustrate the problem by a comparison. If we consider the award of European regional funds and objective 1 status, we find that there is a yes in the cases of south Yorkshire and Mansfield, but a no for Newark. On assisted area status, the picture is: south Yorkshire, yes; Mansfield, yes; Newark, no. On coalfields, the picture is the same. I fully understand the criteria and why those areas have been awarded that status. The problem is that Newark does not yet fit the criteria, even though the town's economic balance has been disturbed. Companies may close, but new industries will not become part of Newark's economy.

I urge the Government to look carefully at that problem. There should be a mechanism to release some form of grant aid to areas such as Newark so that they are not disadvantaged in the long-term. Perhaps it is time to put a stop to what will inevitably be a merry-go-round of grants. I do not want Newark to become an industrial graveyard.