Mr Ken Woolmer: asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of unemployed, including school leavers, in Yorkshire and Humberside at the latest available date; and what increase since May 1979 this figure represents.
Mr Ken Woolmer: Is the Minister aware that within that disgraceful total in Yorkshire, the Batley and Spen Valley textile areas have experienced an increase in unemployment of 260 per cent.? Does he claim that to be a success of Government economic policy? Why have the Government appointed, and been sending around the west midlands, a Minister with special responsibility, yet have allowed the Yorkshire...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Is the Minister aware that the Opposition need no lessons in supporting nationalised industries? Indeed, we are pleased to see nationalised industries prosper. It is a pity that the Government seem determined to sell off nationalised industries once they appear to be making a profit for the taxpayer. Is it not the case that the consultants—Price Waterhouse—told the Government that if...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Will the Minister come clean and tell the public that it is his and the Government's intention to use up to £800 million of taxpayers' money to write off British Airways' debts and to sell off the airline after an election—and not before—to the private sector? Why does he not have the courage to tell the electorate that that is his intention?
Mr Ken Woolmer: asked the Minister for Trade what assessment he has made of the level of manning and other costs on United Kingdom merchant shipping compared with those of other European merchant fleets.
Mr Ken Woolmer: Will the Minister confirm The Times report of 30 March, which outlined a list of issues which the Minister has asked his officials to consider? If the hon. Gentleman's purpose is much more wide-ranging than manning, and if he acknowledges the failure of his laissez-faire approach to shipping policy, will he now ensure that a detailed inquiry is conducted impartially, jointly with all sides of...
Mr Ken Woolmer: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to meet the leaders of British voluntary aid agencies to discuss the level of central funding of the agencies.
Mr Ken Woolmer: When the right hon. Gentleman has his next meeting, does he expect to be in a position to outline any possibility of increasing Government aid to the agencies for such schemes as the pound for pound scheme aimed at assisting the poorest of the poor nations, which I understand to be the basis of the Government's approach to these matters?
Mr Ken Woolmer: asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he has yet studied the report of the British Textile Confederation entitled "The United Kingdom Textile Industry: A Plan for Action", a copy of which has been sent to him; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Ken Woolmer: Is the Minister aware that since his Government came into office the textile and clothing industries have lost over 260,000 jobs, and that the Governments of Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, Sweden and Canada have all felt it necessary to introduce vigorous Government schemes to help these industries? When will his Government stop sitting on their hands while these industries decline and do...
Mr Ken Woolmer: How many?
Mr Ken Woolmer: I am most grateful to the Minister for the assurances that he gave in Committee on the various points that I raised. I am glad that he acknowledged their importance. It is a pity that the Bill does not deal with other matters connected with merchant shipping. My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) will have an opportunity later this evening to raise the wider...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Is it not true that since the Conservative party came to office less than four years ago the number of merchant ships has fallen by 32 per cent., while tonnage has fallen by 36 per cent.? Does the Minister recall telling the House last November that the Government were determined not just to stand idly by as mere spectators of the sad scene of a massive decline in British merchant shipping?...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Does the Minister accept that Labour Members recognise the achievements and the high standard of the British film industry, which serves not only cinema and television, but, increasingly, the video industry? Will he accept that his review of the film industry must provide for two basic objectives: first, a coherent framework for Government policy in place of the present fragmented response...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Bearing in mind the substantial cost of the common agricultural policy to our taxpayers and consumers, why are the Government supporting the EC in its threat of a major agriculture surplus trade war in the negotiaions with the United States? How can that possibly be in the interests of the British consumer or taxpayer?
Mr Ken Woolmer: asked the Minister for Trade what was the percentage change in the size of the United Kingdom merchant shipping fleet from 1 January 1979 to the latest available date.
Mr Ken Woolmer: Are not these figures a demonstration that the Minister's written answer on Friday was a betrayal of the British interest as a maritime nation? It is as if a major continental country were willing to see most of its railways ripped up and destroyed and much of the remaining railways sold off and placed under foreign control. The Under-Secretary is turning out to be not so much a mouse that...
Mr Ken Woolmer: Last year the textile and clothing industries pressed the Minister to provide Government aid schemes for those industries. He replied that other EC countries had such a scheme but that the Government would oppose them. Since then, the European Commission has approved the French, Belgian and Italian textile aid schemes. Will the Government now cease objecting to those schemes and introduce a...
Mr Ken Woolmer: I was amazed to hear the hon. Member for Brighouse and Spenborough (Mr. Waller) say that he welcomed what the Government have done. I do not welcome what the Government have done in west Yorkshire. I certainly do not welcome what they have done in my constituency. In four years the Government have destroyed 100,000 jobs there. That is an extraordinary figure in one county of our region.
Mr Ken Woolmer: I am grateful for that information. It reinforces the point that I was making. For a Conservative Member to welcome what the Government have done is either to ignore reality or to be willing to support policies which have no support in Yorkshire. I am not alone in challenging the Government to put their confidence to the test and face the electorate. The electorate in Yorkshire will...
