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Sir James Molyneaux: Does the Minister realise that I was, in a sense, throwing him a lifeline when I suggested that it should be drawn to the attention of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury that the United Kingdom and Great Britain have many more high earners per 1,000 of the population than we have in Northern Ireland and that the benefits accruing to the economy on the bigger island are therefore much greater? It is a rather delicate suggestion but perhaps it might be of some help to him when he is bargaining, not for an enhanced slice of the cake but for a fair share of the cake when it comes to the carve-up in the autumn.
Sir John Wheeler: I was especially grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for the courteous and careful way in which he threw the lifeline and assure him that his fine words will be enthusiastically deployed along the line that he suggests in the coming debates at the Treasury.
I emphasise the fact that we have continued to sustain Northern Ireland public expenditure at levels which take account of the region's unemployment and other problems. This manifests itself in a number of ways. We continue to commit substantial resources to industrial development including inward investment; we have large training and employment programmes and have been piloting a scheme for the long-term unemployed; and the social security programme is running at some £3.1 billion in the current year. Our policies therefore address the whole community, not only those in work.
The report refers to the council's intention to stimulate a debate on the degree of fiscal autonomy that regional governments might have. Clearly, this is a legitimate area of public discussion and the Government will follow the debate with interest. I must point out, however, that the unified taxation system has served Northern Ireland well over the years, and the report itself acknowledges that the Province continues to benefit from substantial fiscal transfers within the United Kingdom system.
I would therefore argue that Northern Ireland's interests need to be judged in the light of all the relevant factors, and in the round, rather than on a piecemeal, measure-by-measure basis. If that broader assessment is made, I believe that it is clear that the Province is treated fairly while still being subject to the same disciplines and constraints that apply throughout the United Kingdom.
Mr. John Hume (Foyle):
I should like to express my deep appreciation to the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir J. Molyneaux) for putting this matter on the agenda as it deserves a great deal of discussion at this particular time, given that there is substantial common ground among the various parties in Northern Ireland.I wish to deal first with a subject which the right hon. Gentleman mentioned and which is causing a serious economic crisis in our community, but which has not received sufficient attention: bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
BSE has created one of the worst economic crises in the lifetime of our citizens. Unlike in other regions of Britain, agriculture is our largest industry, and the community as a whole, but especially rural towns and villages, is heavily dependent on it and on the beef industry. We believe that we have a special case and that the problem in Northern Ireland is very different from that in Britain. For example, the incidence of BSE in Northern Ireland is less than one tenth of that in Great Britain. The rate of incidence of BSE in Northern Ireland has been declining rapidly, and international observers have agreed
that measures taken to control it have been extremely effective. The farm quality assurance scheme in Northern Ireland provides an effective guarantee that beef that is given that assurance is free from BSE and from BSE-free herds.
The computerised tracing system that operates in Northern Ireland is regarded as one of the most advanced in the world. It ensures that every animal can be traced from birth to slaughter. That enables the strictest possible control to be exercised over cattle. Other regions have much to learn from the forward thinking of people in Northern Ireland's agriculture and beef industries.
There is a powerful case for special status for Northern Ireland, to be put to the Council of Ministers and the European Commission, given our dependence on the industry and the special relationship that I have just described. I appeal to the Minister--as he knows, my party and the Ulster Unionist party have put this request to him before--to reconsider putting that case directly to the Council of Ministers.
With regard to the broader political scene, I agree totally with the Minister that peace on our streets has an enormous role to play in developing our economy, given what we have lost over the past 25 years because of the violence and troubles. The 18 months of peace demonstrated the mood that has developed and the opportunities to translate the massive international good will, which has clearly emerged in Europe and the United States, into real benefits at an economic level for our people. There is a major opportunity to do that and I hope that there will soon be a restoration of the ceasefire so that, in that totally peaceful atmosphere, all our energies can be harnessed to aid economic development.
As I said, there is substantial common ground among the different parties in Northern Ireland on the economy. Indeed, when the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley was leader of the Ulster Unionist party, we met, and our parties met, and we began a process to discuss matters of common interest. I certainly hope that, as the peace process and the talks process continue--we all recognise the difficulties in the political arena--we shall work closely together on the economy to develop the trust that will help us in the more difficult political field.
In working together on the economy, we have an enormous amount of international good will on which to call to help us build economic success. As we know, the European Union has designated a special programme of development for Northern Ireland. Through its President and at every level, right across its communities, the United States has expressed its enormous willingness to help us on the economic front.
There are two major areas in which we can take advantage of that enormous good will of the United States--marketing the products of our indigenous small companies and seeking inward investment. I have some experience of both of them in my constituency, because we set up a local body, whose members are drawn from both sections of the community, to market the products of our small companies in America, using our contacts there, and to seek inward investment.
As the Minister knows, there has been substantial recent success. We have attracted 2,500 jobs into my constituency from the American investment, and using
that international good will over the past few years, initial orders from the 200 small companies from all sections of Northern Ireland that I have taken to the United States to market their products, have been worth £42 million. That underlines the enormous opportunity that is now out there for us, to harness the massive international good will and sympathy for our situation in Northern Ireland.A ceasefire is, of course, an essential element in greatly strengthening that good will and sympathy, so that real benefits for our people are created through the marketing of our small companies' products and inward investment.
As we know, the European Union has designated a special programme for us. When the peace process started and United States representatives and the late Secretary of Commerce were offering us economic assistance, my party and I suggested that, as other countries have it as part of peace processes in other parts of the world, they recognised Northern Ireland and the border counties as a duty-free zone for imports into the United States.I understand that that proposal is being seriously considered and I know, from my personal contacts, that there is substantial support for it in Washington. That would give Northern Ireland an enormous boost.
Other regions might think that Northern Ireland is getting an advantage. However, we are trying to cure the disadvantage that we have had over the past 25 years. If we can persuade the American Senate and Congress to give us that duty-free status--as a result, products made in our area would be imported duty free into the United States--it will be an enormous boost to our industrial development. We have the potential to achieve that status if the Government support us in our request to the United States--I hope that they do.
Mr. A. Cecil Walker (Belfast, North):
As one who was born and brought up in Belfast, I am proud that it is again defining fresh frontiers of industrial, economic and social achievement. Towards the close of the previous century, Belfast was the source and centre of a high-volume flow of new technologies and materials. It transferred goods to the furthest corners of the globe. Its first factories were the largest and most advanced spinning and weaving mills of the time, using the finest cloths and linens.
Commodities and people were exported abroad on ships that were built in Harland and Wolff. The fastest and most luxurious ocean liners were first thought of, and subsequently designed and constructed here. The city became a location for entrepreneurs who managed, manufactured and marketed their ideas, their products and their talents to Europe, to the far east and to America. Many of them became part of the great wave of emigrants who left for the shores of the United States in the 19th century.
Today is a new time, with new opportunities. Once again, Belfast is resuming its place as a driver of economic regeneration and growth. Ambitious projects for the transformation of established areas within the city--such as the Gasworks, Springvale and Laganside
developments--are providing imaginative investment opportunities. Schemes such as the development of Lagan weir and Clarendon dock are being undertaken by Laganside Corporation and are ensuring that the river's significance is not posthumous, but progressive; not former, but future.
That physical development is another sign of the city's increase in capacity and of its confidence in itself. Laganbank is a superb example. It is an entirely new development, which will cost approximately £130 million and which will be completed, appropriately, in 2000. The main elements include a 2,250-seat conference and concert hall, signifying the close relations between commerce and culture in the city; a 1,350-space multi-storey car park; a 200-bedroom four-star hotel; 500,000 sq ft of office space; and 70,000 sq ft of speciality and festival shopping.
Another example of Belfast engineering at its finest is the imposing £65 million cross-harbour bridge, named after William Dargan, who built the first rail bridge in Ireland. The Dargan bridge is a clear demonstration of the city's commitment to maintaining and developing the kind of up-to-the-minute transportation and communications network essential for companies seeking access to or seeking further to consolidate their position in the international fast lane of modern industrial economies.
Belfast is a city that is constantly reinventing itself in terms of its workplaces and work forces. Companies such as Ford, whose commitment to Belfast spans many years, have been joined by investors from Britain, Europe, North America and the Pacific and Asian countries, who realise the benefits of a flexible, well-educated and motivated population of 300,000 people from which to recruit their personnel.
Belfast is the nexus for a transport and communications infrastructure unrivalled by any European city of equivalent size. A major freight port with a brand new terminal and a roll-on/roll-off facilities, Belfast is also connected by an excellent motorway and trunk road system to every other port in Northern Ireland. The main railway station integrates the whole of Northern Ireland, and there are two major airports with links to Great Britain, Europe and America. Passengers and products can easily be transported to any of those areas.
Belfast is a young city on an ancient site, and its local and global importance has always been linked to its position as a centre of communications and capital. Many of its past industries were linked to the transport of goods, of ideas and of technologies. Shipbuilding is the first and most obvious example, ropemaking a related second and the design and construction of light aircraft a more recent third. The manufacture of linen, which consolidated Belfast's significance as a major city in the 19th and20th century, would have been unimaginable without the port and harbour that link it to world markets.
Times have changed. The industrial revolution, which laid the foundation for Belfast's sphere of influence, shaped its architectural profile and created the wealth of many of its citizens, has been superseded by a new information age.
Ironically, Belfast has figured once again as a centre of public communications networks, for the past 25 years have put it firmly in the spotlight of international media attention. Nevertheless, during much of that period there
has been a relentless, if understandable, decline in investment activity, industrial growth and stability of employment.
Identifying problems is one way of helping to eradicate them. Although the legacy of problems confronting Belfast is by no means likely to disappear overnight, there is no reason to suppose that they are any more difficult than those of any other major European city.
In its key document, "Opportunities for All", Belfast city council outlined an economic development strategy for the years 1995 to 2000, in which it pinpointed information as the lodestone of a new gateway to and prosperity for its citizens. It was felt that Belfast was in a position to promote itself once again as an urban and national business for a global network of public and business intelligence and information systems.
Obviously, the term "information" is the site for many competing definitions and applications. What do we mean when we speak of Belfast as a city of information? To start with, Belfast has an established and worldwide reputation for the accuracy, low-cost production and high integrity of its software development industries. They have evolved so rapidly in the past decade that they provide employment for 10,000 people, and trends suggest that they have the potential to increase that figure substantially.
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