asked the Secretary of State for Industry if, in view of the notification of 225 redundancies at Foster Len Limited, Wigan and the present rate of unemployment of 12·4 per cent. in the Wigan area, he will take urgent measures to improve employment prospects in that area.

In our review of regional industrial policy we recognised the problems of the Wigan-travel-to-work area and made it a development area. Industrial development there, however—as in all parts of the country—depends mainly on national economic improvement, which our policies are designed to achieve, and on the enterprise and co-operation of management and workers together with realism on wage settlements.