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West Midlands and Coventry

I thank Mr Speaker for granting this debate, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) on securing it. For us in Coventry, it is an important and timely debate, and we look to the Minister to give what answers he can today and some sense of a future for Coventry and similar cities in the west midlands and beyond. At the moment, with the dramatic situation in Europe, the likelihood of a further recession there and the possibility of a double dip in this country, the outlook for employment and prosperity in the west midlands particularly is grim indeed. I want to follow my hon. Friend in saying that we are pleased to see guests and supporters from Birmingham and Oxford with us for this debate. Its national significance and relevance should not be overlooked. I shall speak first about unemployment. Coventry always seems to suffer a double whammy. The first public sector cuts were pushed through by the Secretary of State for Education who went for Becta—the Bringing Educational Creativity to All agency—the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. Those good-quality jobs had been located to Coventry from London because it is central and as part of a clear-cut Government policy to promote growth and quality jobs in the region; but they were cut just like that, in a disgraceful and wanton act without notification, without warning and without consultation. The Secretary of State issued a rude letter closing them down without more ado. He then mended his ways to some extent. We had a debate about the matter in this Chamber, and told him that that was no way to behave and that we hoped he would reconsider. I note that the number of job losses is somewhat lower than was announced, but the total number is 1,237 in the private sector, plus 620 in local authorities and public services. That has created a grim situation in Coventry city, and we can do nothing about it until the Government stop the national cuts, to which my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East (Mr Smith) referred. There is no salvation for Coventry in isolation, although we shall make some suggestions to the Minister today about what he could, and should, do to help. But in the background is the single objective that the Government have set for their economic policy—the reduction of the deficit, come what may. Whatever cuts and deflation are necessary, that is what the Government intend to achieve. We have pointed out many times, and my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South said again today, that they cannot achieve that objective with policies that are destroying so much of the economy. It is as simple as that, and until they change their policies, the outlook for Coventry and Britain is grim indeed. Where do we stand on some of the Government's initiatives that were intended to improve the situation? Some were referred to by my hon. Friend. First, we have had no luck in Coventry with the regional growth fund, and the Minister knows the situation with CPP, which was turned down. I do not want to reopen the matter at this stage, but we hope that it will return. It might have restarted car production at Browns Lane, but I do not think that it will, nor do I think that we will have much luck there. We tried for enterprise zone status, but failed for some reason, and I would like the Government to reconsider that and to explain the criteria that Coventry failed to fulfil. Similarly, Coventry is suffering badly with youth unemployment, and that is the most serious aspect of unemployment. Some unemployed kids are the third and fourth generation of families that have never been in work and will never get into work because they do not know what it is about. That is why the Government were so wrong, when they came to office, to cut Labour's scheme that was running successfully. They have now scored the unique achievement of promoting 1 million young people out of work. That came as a shock to everyone in the country, not least the Government. They are now trying belatedly to do something about it, but unless they change their economic stance and the sheer deflationary course on which they have embarked, that will simply not happen. I turn to something else that the Government could do that would be useful to the nation as a whole and to Coventry: credit easing. Where do they stand on that? Various schemes have been suggested, and we are supposed to hear the details of the present scheme in January. Can the Minister tell us when the credit will flow from that and when it will be available in Coventry? As my hon. Friend said, many small companies that are okay at the moment could do so much better with credit easing in place; they could obtain the credit they need for working and investment capital to improve their output and their sales. It is as simple as that, but until we know the details, we have nothing to go on. The situation with the Nuckle project, which involves transport, is similar. The paraphernalia and bureaucracy surrounding various Government investment projects were supposed to be cut back. It is a good scheme for linking the north-south train run through Coventry. It is a very good project. We have been dealing with it for about five years or more, partly because of Government bureaucracy, but this Government are even worse. I hear now—I think that my hon. Friend referred to it—that they have promised a decision this month, before Christmas. Can we at least have some indication? What assurance can the Minister give us that the decision will not only be taken, but be positive? That would be the most important thing that we could hear from him today. I hope that he will take that on board. If he cannot answer this morning, will he answer as soon as possible? We are looking for Government action. The people of Coventry are finding it more and more difficult to respond to the situation. There is no future in cuts, in recession and in an economy that is depressed and looks like remaining so. We shall have growing youth unemployment and growing national unemployment, and we will never create the new businesses, jobs and growth that we need to put the deficit right. Coventry is a microcosm of that problem. It certainly highlights all the problem's worst aspects in an area that has suffered so much in every recession and throughout the period since this Government took office.