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8.30 pm
Sir Michael Marshall (Arundel): Twenty-two years ago today I had the opportunity of taking part in the debate on the Loyal Address in the year in which I was elected. As was customary at that time, I spoke about my constituency. In what must now be my last speech on the Loyal Address, I want to return to that theme. I am glad to see my right hon. Friend the Member for Worthing (Sir T. Higgins) in the Chamber because we have shared many common causes in our part of the world.
I should like to touch on what I see as the balance sheet of how the country's economic progress has affected my constituency over the past two decades. I make no apology for dealing with this in constituency terms because, I venture to suggest to right hon. and hon. Members, many of the problems faced by my constituency and many of its achievements can be mirrored in many constituencies throughout the country.
For example, the decline of traditional manufacturing industry has been addressed in various ways. In my constituency, I am happy to say, we have seen the
emergence of an important element of the information technology industry. However, at the same time, we have seen the decline of smaller seaside resorts, as has happened in many places along our national coastline.
I should like to pay tribute to what I see as one of the more enlightened parts of public expenditure and that is the pump priming and beneficial effect of the single regeneration budget as well as the imagination that produces fresh opportunities through millennium proposals.
In our case, that has brought new partnerships of central and local government together with local businesses and individuals which have yielded positive results. In Bognor Regis, the recently opened SRB-funded business centre and the current millennium proposals for a pier, a pavilion and a lighthouse, are all part of a spirit of new enterprise. In Littlehampton, similar partnerships have emerged from SRB proposals.
Currently, I place the highest importance on the submission put forward in September this year, based on a public and private partnership for the dredging of the harbour entrance. I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Science and Technology, who is also responsible for the south coast, is keeping an eye on that proposal following his recent visit. It is only right to remind him that Littlehampton is the only major town on the Sussex coast that has not benefited so far from SRB funding.
In Arundel, the town's natural attractions and its growth in recent years as a major cultural centre, have facilitated the continued growth of tourism. All that is positive, but Arundel immediately reminds us of the other side of the balance sheet and some of the problems that we have to overcome. We are facing major infrastructure problems which can be resolved only by action from the Treasury, together with co-ordinated Government activity. Arundel, like many other places, desperately needs a by-pass--in our case, as one of the last links in the east-west chain. However, the freezing of the present project after a decade of planning and agreement in principle within the national road building programme, threatens the local economy and the local environment.
I was grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for Railways and Roads for visiting Arundel during the summer recess and seeing the situation at first hand. He will be aware of the growing scale of the problem. I believe that the traffic congestion will become appalling because major work will have to be undertaken soon to meet new EU regulations on axle loads, which will affect the railway bridge at Arundel.
That problem has to be seen as one of the effects of economic stringency in the search for a more stable economy during the lifetime of this Parliament. Now that the signs of that stability are increasingly apparent, we look for imagination and, dare I say it, a sense of urgency, to protect and develop our quality of life.
Similar objectives apply on house building. I must raise my voice against the constant pressure for the infilling of the few remaining rural and green belt areas. For example, there is the situation involving the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the former horticultural research institute in Littlehampton. Horticulture remains one of our most important industries. We have the largest glasshouse development in the country along the south coast between Chichester and Worthing. The closure of that institute was a major blow to our local economy.
We now have to guard against the immediate clash of policy and objectives between two Government Departments. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is anxious to protect and preserve farming land such as that on which the institute was based. However, it is required by the Treasury to achieve the maximum sale price on disposal. That means that there is a temptation to sell to those who wish to maximise building for both domestic and industrial use. All that is happening at the same time as MAFF is putting forward its latest consultation initiative on the south downs as an environmentally sensitive area on which the land in question borders. Those are just some of the overall problems and achievements which I urge Ministers to recognise.
Pensioners are a significant group in my constituency and make up one third of my electorate. I have joined that group recently and so have pledged myself to their interests with renewed vigour. I urged a better deal for pensioners in my maiden speech 22 years ago and I have been glad to see progress in the help provided for the most vulnerable as well as the general increase of the value of the state pension above the rate of inflation. That is in sharp contrast to the position in the last days of the Labour Government when pensioners' savings were being halved every two years.
There is still much to do. One bugbear of mine has been the historic growth of ad hoc allowances such as the Christmas bonus, the over-80s supplement and other additions which have quickly become out of date. I urge my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor to look in his Budget at tax and benefit reform for pensioners. I believe that the raising of the capital disallowance should be built on as part of a reform of capital taxation. Above all, I look for continued progress in targeting those most in need to replace the costly and inefficient aspects of universal provision.
I cannot end without a word about the wider world as it relates to my constituents. That means the view that they take about Britain's place in Europe and proposals for a common currency. I mentioned earlier the growth in our part of the world of high technology concerns which support the information technology and aerospace industries. I have found that the interests of those small and medium-sized businesses have provided a valuable input to my work in the House on committees such as the parliamentary information technology committee and the parliamentary space committee. In my part of the world, some larger companies such as Matra Marconi are blazing the trail well ahead of the political process in making Franco-British co-operation a success story within the wider context of the European Space Agency, which has enabled Britain to remain competitive with the United States and Russia.
Looking further afield, we can reflect on the new strength and benefit which we derive from the Government's success in attracting inward capital. In our case, there is the Malaysian ownership of Lec Refrigeration. That is a classic case of a company that has established its base in the United Kingdom as the ideal centre from which to develop its Europewide business.
Although I am sceptical about the economic distortion implicit in the early introduction of a common currency, and believe that the European Union's enlargement to include countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic is a more important political priority, my
constituents well understand the major shift in our trading patterns. For example, they reflect on the fact that Britain now exports more to Germany than to the United States and Japan combined and they are rightly critical of those in our political system who would put our involvement and influence in the EU at risk.
Mr. Thomas Graham (Renfrew, West and Inverclyde):
It is a pleasure to speak in tonight's debate. Last year, as every year previously, I read out a wee poem to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I am sure that he is used to my poems, although they have never seemed to make much sense to him.
Recently, on my way to my surgery on a wild and wintry morning in Scotland--the Minister should listen, although I do not think that she will like my story--I was driving along a country road in my constituency when I saw a man walking and decided to stop. When I reached him, I realised that I knew him, so I asked him how he was getting on. "Not so good, Tom," he said, "I am unemployed." He was a builder and a bricklayer and he could not get a job. As we were talking, he told me that another man whom I knew was not very well. "What is the matter with him?" I asked. "He is suffering from serious depression," he said, "He is a carpenter and he cannot get a job." That is a true story. Many people in my constituency want to work. They want the right to a wage and they are suffering from depression created by the Government.
I have here a report on the construction industry which was sent to most hon. Members. The preface is by Martin Laing CBE, chairman of John Laing Construction Ltd. and chairman of the Construction Industry Employers Council. He is not known to be a Labour supporter, but the report refers to the state of the construction industry and we should bear it in mind that we are debating the economy.
The report states:
The report also tells us how many people work in the construction industry--an enormous number--yet in the Queen's Speech, the Government provided no hope for the building workers and made no provision for them. Earlier today, when I asked the Chancellor about the broken-down schools and the potholes in the roads, he said that he was not prepared to spend any more on public sector borrowing. What does that mean? He is condemning the country to being in a state of disrepair, ill equipped for the next century.
The Government have lived on the proceeds of privatisation of oil, gas and much more. They have sold their silver. They have an antiques fair every week selling this and that. Do they put anything back into the nation? No, they make their rich friends richer while the poor get poorer. Unemployment is deep seated. Some 2 million people are unemployed.
The Government continually refer back to the Labour Government in 1979. That is fine. If they continue to do that, their message will be lost. If we fast forward, by the next century I shall talk about that Labour Government and say that, in those days, unemployment was under 1 million and most of my constituents were in work; they could afford holidays, pay their rent and enjoy living. Now they do not enjoy living, because the factories are closed--they have been left empty for so long. However, I am delighted that, last week, a company invested some money in my constituency.
Car boot sales are booming. I joked about the Minister who sat on the green Conservative Benches and used to say to the unemployed, "On your bike." The car boot sales are full of bikes. They are the bikes that went to empty factories. The people of Scotland--and of some parts of England--travelled about on their bikes, but they could not find employment.
Young folk in my constituency work for buttons. The low wage economy is shocking. At Glasgow airport--a booming airport--I spoke to a man whom I knew. When I asked, "What are you doing these days?" he said that he was a cleaner. He was working 12 hours a day for £3.06 an hour. He received no payment for anti-social hours. Does anyone in the Minister's family work for £3.06 an hour for a 12-hour day? I do not think that any Minister's family works for such a pittance.
I have two sons who are both computer buffs. One is an honours graduate who is unemployed. He is into the Internet and the information highway. Both my sons are very computer minded. It is unbelievable that they are unemployed in this day and age. They have applied for hundreds of jobs. They have been to interviews and just missed jobs.
What a state we are in. The Government are talking about the possibility of dropping income tax to 20p in the pound. That is absolutely ludicrous, given that that represents a golden opportunity to invest money in education and ensure that every man and woman is capable of accessing the information highway.
It is mind-boggling, as I am sure the Minister has seen. I have seen my son asking questions and getting answers from America within minutes. He asked questions about dyslexia and the woman who replied was a professor in America who said that she had conducted a study. My son has the power of information and education. It is the power to progress. It is mind-boggling that the Government have not sat down and made a plan to provide access to that information for every school, workplace, library and hospital--the Internet also covers medical matters. The Internet is a highway of information and we are a long way behind. The Minister would have people counting on an abacus.
I am not really computer minded, but I watch my sons. My sons have a bit of backing from their father, but many people in my constituency can hardly afford a hot dinner.
Because of Government policy, they cannot afford to pay their rent or their electricity bills. VAT on fuel punishes my constituents, some of whom would do well if they had access to information and education to help them to get a job.
Graduates are unemployed when they could be training and educating our young people. Boys such as my sons could be educating the nation in information technology. We should not squander that opportunity. It is unbelievable that, after 17 years, the Government struggle to put up an argument for why they are in power. After 17 years, they will not take the right step and have a general election.
"The very size of the British construction industry means that when it is in recession, as it is at present, then confidence in the wider economy is also undermined. Construction emerged from recession late--in 1994--and after just one year of modest growth, it fell back into recession in 1995 where it has remained since".
That does not auger well for the unemployed men and women in my constituency who seek work in the construction industry.
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