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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

Constituencies such as that of the hon. Member for Northavon and my constituency next door, have traditionally had high levels of employment but are now suddenly seeing this downturn. That demonstrates acutely the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. There is a need for a vigorous economic policy from the Government, and that is what I want to come on to next... I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a moment, but perhaps he will let me develop this theme, which I alluded to in my intervention on the Minister. This region has the highest percentage of people employed in small or medium-sized businesses. Those are precisely the sort of businesses that suffer most in a downturn and require most advice from the Government. One of the things that has hurt those businesses during the downturn has been the lack of credit from the banks. The Government need to pay more attention to that. Clearly, it is a matter for the banks, but the more the Government legislate for mechanisms to ensure solvency of the banks—whether through Brussels or our own Government in Westminster—the more difficult it is for those banks to lend to businesses. I am sure that every hon. Member here today has had a number of representations from small and medium-sized businesses that are perfectly viable but are suffering because they cannot get sufficient credit from the banks.