Mr Julian Ridsdale: Will the hon. Gentleman be generous enough to admit that this month Nissan is creating 1,000 new jobs in the north-east?
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I was interested in the little argument about the Toyota plant and Nissan plants because I have visited them both. I assure the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Ashton) that the RB211 plant is as recognised and as advanced in technology as any plant that I have visited in Japan. I remember going to Japan with the hon. Member for Bassetlaw and Joe Harper, who is no longer with us. He was an...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: The hon. Gentleman's comments are misguided. My experience of the Japanese market is that our exports to Japan have almost doubled in the past three years. With the priority campaign that now exists, it is up to us to test the market. I think that the hon. Gentleman's remarks are out of date, but I do not want to be too emphatic because I am trying to keep the argument on a low key and not to...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I am trying to lower the temperature of the debate because I want to help by introducing constructive ideas on manufacturing industry, not just to make a political argument. Gavin Laird, the general secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, was right to say that the success of Japanese plants in this country was a result of company unions. Anyone who has been to Japan knows the...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: Yes, certainly the ladies. I should hate to leave out the ladies because as one goes around industry one appreciates the value of ladies, particularly in relation to computers and machines in industry. It is encouraging that achievements are being made, even now, in some of the British companies that I have visited, including EIS, Ricardos and the IBM factory in Havant to which I referred....
Mr Julian Ridsdale: This has been an interesting debate, marked by unanimity between the two Front Benches. It is a change to speak in the House without the need to use the slanging political phrases that we use too often against each other and to be able to apply our minds to perhaps the most serious situation that we have had to face internationally since 1945. I was at a NATO conference in Hamburg in 1988,...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 23 January.
Mr Julian Ridsdale: Is my right hon. Friend aware of how encouraged those who have been organising Expo 90 in Japan have been by the positive help that the Government have recently given to that project? Is my right hon. Friend further aware that Royal Horticultural Society, the horticultural industry and the industrialists who have helped with the project will redouble their efforts to make sure that this...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I shall speak for five minutes only, as I know that a number of my hon. Friends want to participate. I could spend a long time discussing our relationship with Japan, but first I should like to draw a far more optimistic picture than the pessimistic scene described by the hon. Member for Gateshead, East (Ms. Quin). One of our problems is that we do not have a large enough industrial...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I found it difficult to know whether the hon. Lady was a protectionist or a free trader.
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I listened to the hon. Lady's speech, which throughout was an effort to be all things to all people. There was nothing definite about it and no clear policy came through—[Interruption.] If I am interrupted any more, it will he difficult to stick to my five minutes. How shall we make our industrial base bigger so that we can deal with the problems that face us in the European Community? We...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Thursday 25 May.
Mr Julian Ridsdale: In view of the turmoil in China can my right hon. Friend give some assurances to the people of Hong Kong as, in the present situation, there must be considerable anxiety among them?
Mr Julian Ridsdale: The reason why Japan can spend so much on research and development is that its manufacturing industry makes huge profits. Thanks to the Government's policies, we too are now making very good profits in our industry and we shall be able to make improvements where they are needed.
Mr Julian Ridsdale: A scientist.
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Sir B. Hayhoe) for the contribution that he has made to this first debate initiated by the engineering development group in the House, and particularly for what he said about the importance of manufacturing industry to our balance of payments, with the challenge focused on 1992, when there will be a consumer market of 320...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I certainly would. I was glad to take to Japan with me in early January the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, North (Mr. Henderson) who is a trade union leader. I find that today's attitude is different from the narrow-minded approach of five or 10 years ago. Now, I am glad to say, trade union leaders are becoming much more aware of the competition that we face and the trade union...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend and I have seen that in the follow-up abroad. Our technical support must always be of top quality. The views that I have been expressing come from British Timken, a company exporting ball bearings to Japan very successfully. Those ball bearings go to Nissan, and the company knows that it is no good trying to export to Nissan and similar companies unless...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: That is why I said that there was one member of the Cabinet with an engineering degree. I am only too well aware of my right hon. Friend's qualifications. I hope that I shall leave time for my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham) to speak because I recognise his qualifications, too. We must adopt a policy of continuous improvement. I hesitate to say this, but it must...
Mr Julian Ridsdale: Does my hon. Friend agree that the size of the fish landed is important as well as the mesh size?
