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Former Coal Mining Areas
4. Mr. Skinner: To ask the President of the Board ofTrade what measures she has for creating jobs in ex-coalfield areas with excessively high unemployment; and if she will make a statement. [658]
The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Mr. John Battle): The legacy of pit closures has scarred whole communities and much work still needs to be done because unemployment is still unacceptably high in those communities. That should not be forgotten as we pull together programmes and policies to assist.
Mr. Skinner: I welcome my hon. Friend to his new job. When he tours the coalfields--Bolsover and many others--as I expect he will, he will not only see the legacy of 18 years of Tory industrial policy: he will see the social fabric of once-proud mining communities almost broken down. Does he agree that the slap-happy policies of market forces will not solve those problems and find work for those communities? Intervention and planning are needed, not only by the Department of Trade and Industry but by others in the Government, to provide much-needed work for those communities. Market forces have not worked for 18 years, and they never will: we want a fresh start.
Mr. Battle: I thank my hon. Friend for his questions. I shall be glad to visit his constituency and others where communities have been badly scarred by Conservative Government policies. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. There is need for co-ordination--for joined-up thinking between Departments--to ensure that the range of regeneration measures are targeted on those communities which need them most. I hope that the Department of Trade and Industry may act as catalysts in this matter to ensure that those communities which are most in need get that help.
Mr. Evans: What will the Minister say to unemployed people in Bolsover and in other ex-coalfield areas about the slap-happy dogma that the Labour party intend to introduce, with such things as the social chapter, the minimum wage and the introduction of a 48-hour directive? Does he really believe that the increased unemployment in those areas that will result from the introduction of those policies is a price worth paying?
Mr. Battle: I am surprised by the hon. Gentleman's slap-happy language. From 1984, the Conservative Government presided over the loss of 50,000 jobs in the coal industry, and more than 40 mines were closed in the area represented in part by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner). Perhaps the former President of the Board of Trade--the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine), who shut the pits without proper economic restructuring packages--should be answering
these questions, although I am glad, and I believe that most of the country is glad, that he is no longer in a position to do so.
Mr. Eric Clarke: I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on his elevation to the Government Front Bench. Will he give me and other Members who represent coal mining areas a guarantee that the Government will pursue in Europe the Rechar money that is still available? Will he ensure that that money, along with the rest of Government subsidies, goes in the direction that my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) has spoken about?
Mr. Battle: The answer to my hon. Friend is yes. It is part of that co-ordination to ensure that policies are put together, and that includes calling on European programmes. I am happy to say that I shall take forward that approach.
Trade Unions
5. Mr. Fallon: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has to introduce new rights of statutory recognition for trade unions. [659]
The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Mr. Ian McCartney): I am sorry, Madam Speaker. I still do not quite believe that we--Labour--are on the Government Benches. I am here, however, and I am enjoying it.
The Government will introduce legislation establishing a right to union recognition where a majority of a relevant work force vote in a ballot for a union to represent them. We shall consult fully on the most effective means of introducing this right.
Mr. Fallon:
We can hardly believe that the hon. Gentleman is on the Government Front Bench, either. Nevertheless, I congratulate him on his appointment.
Given the Secretary of State's desire for a closer partnership with business, will the Minister name one business organisation that is in favour of wider rights of union recognition?
Mr. McCartney:
First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on returning to this place. My constituents did not feel short-changed in booting him out. I welcome him back.
The position is simple: the Government believe in having a partnership with industry, a right to join a trade union and for that union to be recognised if a majority of the work force expresses the wish in a secret ballot for that to be the position. That is why we are consulting. It is clear that industry wants a fresh start. It wants a Government who are for partnership, who want to work with it in motivating the work force and working generally in a way that improves competitiveness in British industry.
I am confident that when we have finished the consultation process and bring forward legislation we shall have the wholehearted support of trade unions and industry generally on the basis that we are a Government
who offer fairness and not favours--unlike the previous Government, who always wanted favours for themselves while denying fairness to others.
Mrs. Mahon:
I, too, welcome my hon. Friend to his new position. I am sure that he will undertake his responsibilities extremely well.
What message would my hon. Friend send to a company in my constituency, named Wescol, which has recently sacked the night shift for asking for recognition? Surely that is not the sort of partnership that we want.
Mr. McCartney:
I thank my hon. Friend for her supplementary question, which illustrates clearly why it is important to provide a right for individuals to join a union and for that organisation to represent their interests. That is why 88 per cent. of the most successful companies in Britain recognise unions and provide opportunities for their employees to be represented by them. As for those companies which do not adopt that approach and which act unfairly, the legislation that we shall introduce will ensure fairness across the board. It will ensure that, when employees want recognition rights and vote for them, they will get them.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke:
I join in welcoming the new Front-Bench team to their new posts, especially the Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry, the hon. Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney). When the hon. Gentleman gets used to standing at the Dispatch Box and facing questions, he may discover that he is there to answer them--unlike the response that he gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon).
Will the Minister confirm that the purpose of the proposed legislation is to increase the proportion of unionised firms in the United Kingdom from what it might otherwise have been, and to restore the influence of the trade union movement in our industrial and corporate affairs? I am sure that he would agree with that. It follows on Mr. Edmonds's advice to members of the Labour party when he said:
Mr. McCartney:
First, when I stand at the Dispatch Box and answer for my Government, I know--unlike the right hon. and learned Gentleman--that the rest of the Government support me. Secondly, this Government are not looking to the past--unlike the right hon. and learned Gentleman, who is locked in the past. The Government are looking to the future. What can be wrong with the principle that someone joins a union and, in a secret ballot, seeks recognition? That is granted as part of a partnership in which we motivate the work force through
6. Mr. Burden:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on her Department's review of firework safety regulations. [660]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Nigel Griffiths):
I plan to introduce a number of new controls on fireworks. Draft regulations will be issued later this month. The proposals include statutory measures and I am confident that many of them will enjoy the support of safety bodies and of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Mr. Burden:
I welcome my hon. Friend to his new role and pay tribute to the work on firework safety that he did in opposition. We welcome a Government who put public safety first in these matters. Will my hon. Friend address the issue of enforcement as there is evidence that some firms, albeit a minority, may be seeking to get round the existing regulations?
Mr. Griffiths:
My hon. Friend fought tirelessly for a ban on aerial shells and other dangerous fireworks, and we plan to ensure that those are kept out of the hands of the public. Anyone seeking to get round the prohibition by using bogus legal arguments will be the subject of swift action by trading standards officers.
Mr. Garnier:
What was the value of fireworks imported from China last year?
Mr. Griffiths:
I do not have the figures, but I will happily let the hon. Gentleman have them. The history of the Conservative Government in limiting dangerous fireworks coming into this country was woeful. Through the measures that I have outlined, which will go out for consultation shortly, we intend to tackle as effectively as we can the terrible problems that fireworks have caused, and which have resulted in a 50 per cent. increase in the number of injuries over the past five or six years.
Mr. Heppell:
Will my hon. Friend keep in mind the tragic death of 10-year-old Dale Mitchell in my constituency, and remember that the age at which people can buy fireworks should be reconsidered, which is one of the things that the Mitchell family wants?
Mr. Griffiths:
I can assure my hon. Friend that we shall consider that. I well remember joining him to present a 17,000-name petition to protest about the weak fireworks regulations. The efforts that he put into the fireworks safety campaign will bear fruit on bonfire night this year, and I pay tribute to him.
Rev. Martin Smyth:
The Government have come in with a bang and I welcome Ministers to the Front Bench. Despite the Minister's assurance that he will tighten up
Mr. Griffiths:
The hon. Gentleman knows exactly what he is talking about. It is important that the fireworks that he mentions should be rigorously controlled. I am confident that the consultation document will specifically consider those fireworks. Trading standards and other enforcement officers in tandem must ensure that the law is upheld and that the future tougher regulations bring the real benefits that all hon. Members seek.
"Let us trust in the years ahead every time a Labour MP walks through the chamber of the House of Commons they remember the help they received from the GMB and so many other trade unions."
The Minister speaks of partnership. Does he envisage a return to the so-called social partnership and the corporatist policies of yesterday, when a bigger trade union movement joined industry and Government in framing industrial and economic policies? I suspect that he personally agrees with that. Will that be added to the new social chapter with its proposals for works councils in every company with more than 50 employees? How does all that square with the Chancellor of the Exchequer's reference yesterday to flexible labour markets?
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