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Electronics Industry
4. Mr. Congdon: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the impact of the electronics industry on the British economy. [7888]
Mr. Ian Taylor: With an estimated annual output of £22 billion, the UK has the fifth largest electronics industry in the world and it is growing fast. Electronics contributes to the production of industries using computers, electronic control, multimedia and telecommunication systems. My Department has several schemes designed to provide wide-ranging support for the growth of the industry.
Mr. Congdon: Does my hon. Friend also agree that the electronics industry has been particularly successful in attracting inward investment which has benefited it? Is not the success of that industry illustrated by the fact that this country is the seventh largest supplier of silicon chips, Scotland provides 35 per cent. of the personal computers produced in the European Community and, surprisingly, this country is now a net exporter of television sets? Is that not a credit to our electronics industry, which would be flat on its back if the Government had followed the policies advocated by the Labour party?
Mr. Taylor: I am delighted to say that the Government did not listen to the Opposition and so have attracted inward investment. That investment has done a terrific job in the electronics industry, which is so crucial. In semiconductors, we are moving up the international league tables very fast. Siemens has put its massive plant in the north-east, which will transform not only work in industry, but the benefits to universities of research. My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, when he was Secretary of State for Scotland, saw an
enormous benefit there. Scotland now has a remarkable record--35 per cent. of all European production of personal computers is based there, which is a great tribute to the economic climate in this country and the industriousness of workers in the industry.
Mr. Ingram: If inward investment in such key sectors as the electronics industry and the selling of the United Kingdom abroad are some of the Government's main aims, can the Minister explain the outrageous and potentially damaging comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister and other senior Ministers when they attacked the efforts of my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition in his recent speech in Tokyo, when he promoted Britain as a place for inward investment to business leaders there? Why do Ministers persist in such cheap, party political point scoring, to the detriment of the long-term interests of British industry and the economy? When will they learn that there are more important issues at stake than papering over the cracks of the divisions and disarray that are becoming the hallmarks of the present Government?
Mr. Taylor: Nothing about this Government is cheap. Even in our criticisms of the Opposition, we indulge only in high value added jibes and taunts. I welcome the work of the Leader of the Opposition in promoting the United Kingdom in Asia. He realises, as we do, just how successful the Conservative Government have been and we are delighted with his efforts to tell the rest of the world about the success of the United Kingdom economy. I do not criticise him for that. If you, Madam Speaker, would allow it I might indulge in some discursive criticism of stakeholders, but that is not permitted now. It is crucial that Opposition Members realise the importance to the United Kingdom of investment by Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese companies, among others. The enormous investment in the electronics industry is creating jobs. There has also been investment from north America and Canada, producing terrific opportunities in the United Kingdom. And it is all thanks to the work of the Conservative Government.
Export Support
6. Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what support his Department is giving to United Kingdom businesses which are seeking to export their goods. [7890]
Mr. Lang: The Government believe that international trade is vital to national competitiveness. Through Overseas Trade Services, my Department provides a first-rate package of information, advice and practical assistance to all British companies wishing to explore new export opportunities. In particular, we are assisting smaller firms through the business links network, which will help them to develop effective strategies to take advantage of international trade opportunities.
Mr. Evans: Will my right hon. Friend acknowledge that many companies can export successfully with little support from the DTI? One example is 3M in my constituency, which employs 250 people and exports 58 per cent. of its production of pharmaceutical aerosols and containers. However, many other companies need full support from the DTI to enable them to export their goods. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the trained
staff in our embassies and high commissions take a proactive line in ensuring that the opportunities available abroad are made known, not only to those companies which contact the DTI but to others which do not?
Mr. Lang: Yes, I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I particularly welcome the fact that there are now more commercial officers at FCO posts overseas. We have a programme of training and experience to improve the professionalism of Overseas Trade Services staff. My hon. Friend mentioned the pharmaceutical industry. He may like to know that exports by that industry rose last year by 37 per cent. to the European Union and 16 per cent. to non-EU countries.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: In so far as representatives of the Campbell's Soups company are in contact with departmental officials to discuss export marketing initiatives, why cannot those discussions be used as a forum in which representatives of that company can be told the real position of departmental officials and what is going on in my constituency? Does the Secretary of State share my outrage and concern and that of 332 other Members? In that light, is it not now time that departmental officials took a more hands-on approach to the matter?
Mr. Lang: The main question before the House relates to exports. I am not certain whether the hon. Gentleman is contemplating the export of the soups produced by that factory. The context of his question makes it impossible for me to answer it and remain in order, but I can reassure him that since 1979 the volume of British exports has nearly doubled and manufacturing exports have risen by almost 90 per cent.
Mr. Thomason: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that his Department is looking to encourage exporters among small businesses, of which are there are many in my constituency, as they are not always aware of the opportunities which may be available to them and have particular needs which larger companies can often fulfil within their own specialisations? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that small businesses are also important to his Department?
Mr. Lang: I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend on that point. Successful though our export record is, we are keen to increase by a further 30,000 the present total of 100,000 or so companies which currently export. To that end, we have recruited some 70 export counsellors who will make their services available to small companies through the business links network.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: Does the President of the Board of Trade acknowledge that cumulatively over the years Scotch whisky has become our biggest single export? Although it is welcome that the Chancellor of the Exchequer reversed his tax increase on whisky of the previous fiscal year, the industry still encounters resistance in persuading difficult markets abroad to lower their taxes. Meanwhile, it continues to suffer penal taxation rates at home. Will the right hon. Gentleman make representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to continue reducing the penal rate of tax on Scotch whisky compared with, for example, that on imported wine?
Mr. Lang: The hon. Gentleman knows how my right hon. and learned Friend responded in his last Budget to
the case made by the Scotch Whisky Association. The issue of whisky duty in Japan has been taken by the British Government to the World Trade Organisation under its arrangements for dispute settlement. Scotland's largest export is electronic office equipment. Overall, UK computer exports to the European Union have increased 55 per cent. in the last year.Trade with Japan
7. Mr. Dunn: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the balance of trade between the United Kingdom and Japan. [7891]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Phillip Oppenheim): In 1994, the last full year for which figures are available, the UK had a balance of trade deficit with Japan of £5.9 billion. In the first 11 months of 1995, UK exports to Japan rose 25 per cent. while imports rose 9 per cent. in the same period.
Mr. Dunn: Although I welcome those figures, to what extent would our trade with Japan grow if we reintroduced the closed shop and had worker councils, the minimum wage, union-only labour and all the policies to which the deceitful bunch opposite would sign up if given the chance?
Madam Speaker: Order. Did I hear the hon. Gentleman use the word "deceitful" in referring to hon. Members? If so, I am sure that he will wish to rephrase his question.
Mr. Dunn: Of course I withdraw the remark, Madam Speaker. I did not mean it, in the heat of the moment.
Mr. Oppenheim: I can give my hon. Friend a graphic example of what happened to British industry when Labour implemented those policies. Triumph was a world leader in motor cycle manufacturing in the 1950s. By the 1970s, after Government meddling and bad industrial relations, Triumph was bankrupt and the Japanese took over the market. That was the reality of British manufacturing under Labour. Triumph motor cycles started up again in the 1980s. It is now competitive and producing high-quality bikes. It exports world wide, including to Japan, and jobs and production are expanding. That is the reality of the high-quality manufacturing that Britain has under the present Government.
Mr. Sheerman: Is the Minister not aware that under a Labour Government, at least in manufactured exports, this country had a surplus against Europe and against the rest of the world, including Japan? The Secretary of State did not answer my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett). This country's economy will not be right until it starts manufacturing the products wanted abroad and selling them in greater numbers.
Mr. Oppenheim: It might surprise the hon. Gentleman to know that I entirely agree that we shall get the economy right when we manage to sell our goods to the world. That is precisely what did not happen under Labour, when the surplus fell sharply and Britain's productivity growth was bottom of the group of industrialised nations. I will tell the hon. Gentleman about two important figures. Since 1980, British manufacturing productivity growth has been
top of the major industrialised nations, and this country has closed no less than three quarters of the productivity gap with Germany. We may not be back in the first division of industrialised nations, but we are getting there, which is far better than in the 1970s under Labour.
Mr. Atkins: Is my hon. Friend aware of the contract that has just been made between Leyland Trucks Ltd. in my constituency and Isuzu of Japan to manufacture and assemble 1,000 trucks over the next few months? The two specific reasons that Japan gave for the contract were the excellence of my constituents' manufacturing ability and its belief that the British economy is the best in the western world.
Mr. Oppenheim: My right hon. Friend makes a valuable point. Opposition Members will recall the situation in the 1970s, when multinational car manufacturers such as General Motors and Ford were falling over themselves to push capacity out of Britain and foreigners would not buy GM or Ford cars if they were made in this country. Today, General Motors, Vauxhall, Isuzu and other Japanese manufacturers are investing massive amounts of money in car manufacturing in Britain and are exporting those vehicles. That stark comparison illustrates how much more competitive and efficient British manufacturing is now, compared with the dark days of the 1970s.
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