The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1963. Riots In London

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30093, 29 March 1963, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1963. Riots In London

More dramatically than any other recent event, the unemployment riots at Westminster have called attention to the single problem in which are crystallised most of the Macmillan Government’s most pressing anxieties. Unemployment, already disturbingly intractable, was aggravated sharply by Britain’s worst winter in many decades. Between mid-February and mid-March the national total of unemployed declined by 176,000 to 701,930; but the rate of improvement disappointed the Ministry of Labour. “The “ hard facts ”, says the latest issue of the “ Economist ”, •* are that the number

“ wholly unemployed is still “some 223,000 more than a “ year ago and the total un- “ employment rate 3.1 per “ cent, instead of 2 per “ cent ”. Analysing the latest employment statistics, the conservative “ Daily Tele- “ graph ” commented a few’ days ago: “Everything sug- “ gests that while the “ weather may be bringing “ back more jobs, the under- “ lying economic trend is “ still the other way. There “ was no more than a sea- “ sonal drop in the numbers “ wholly unemployed, while “ the percentages in the “ main development areas “still remain at completely “ unacceptable levels”. Long-range measures to infuse new confidence into industry are scarcely in sight. Its trading policy unhinged by the Brussels debacle, the Government confronts a mass of uncertainties, not the least of which derive from the approach of a General Election.

Unemployment is worst in areas with a high concentration of heavy industry, notably those in northern England and Scotland. Northern Ireland is affected particularly badly; in general during the last 10 years the proportion unemployed

there has been about five times that of the rest of Britain, and in February the Ulster percentage was 112. On the Clyde and in other shipbuilding regions the collapse of demand for shipping has resulted in acute difficulties of industrial readjustment. Scotland’s current unemployment percentage is 6.2; that for northern England is only fractionally lower. In all these areas there is excess productive capacity, the future utility of which is doubtful. Population trends immediately after the war have also sharpened recent competition for available jobs. Concern about unemployment led the Government in January to announce a general increase in social security benefits. In an attempt to find long-term remedies for high-unem-ployment areas, it commissioned special investigations by Lord Hailsham, Lord President of the Council. Most important of all, it initiated a fresh consideration of ways in which economic growth might be stimulated to maintain full employment. The easing of credit restraints, schemes of government-sponsored industrial development, the placing of additional Admiralty contracts with northern shipyards, and allied decisions seem to have had little effect. To the Government’s other worries are added pressures on sterling and the balance of payments. A programme of domestic expansion entails the risk of an exchange crisis; paradoxically, the risk might be minimised if the Government were to adopt a sufficiently courageous programme. How the Chancellor (Mr Maudling) proposes to meet this challenge will be seen when he presents his Budget. For the foreseeable future, in any event, unemployment is likely to be the critical issue of British politics.