Eric Joyce

Private Members’ Debates

Economic Development (Falkirk)

Mr. Eric Joyce (Falkirk) (Lab): I want to talk about the economy of Falkirk, because that is my constituency. However, to some degree, it is a false construct, because economies in our constituencies—local, regional, national and global economies—are increasingly interdependent. I shall make two points and ask two questions. I shall ask my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Scotland Office about the enterprise strategy, because it seems to be one of the Government’s most important tasks. The Government are consulting on the strategy, and that will result in a White Paper early next year. I shall also raise the issue of the reorganisation of an agency in Scotland. It is primarily a devolved issue, but it still has important implications for many businesses and industries throughout my constituency. Some organisations that I shall mention operate within my constituency, but they may be based in colleagues’ constituencies. If I refer to such an organisation, I shall explain that it is in a colleague’s constituency, but that it employs my constituents.
I shall start by putting the issue into a localised context for my hon. Friend the Minister. I am absolutely confident that he will want to hear a good deal about Falkirk, so I shall give him some of that action. Employment in Falkirk is at 78 per cent., against the Scottish average of 76 per cent. Historically, Falkirk was an iron town: it supplied the shipbuilding and related industries on the Clyde and in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Until the late 1970s, the general assumption locally was that people would continue to be employed in the iron and related industries, and in the tertiary manufacturing industries that went with them. The typical pattern was for a man to start work at a bus factory—Alexander Dennis, for example, which still exists—and work there for his entire life. Frequently, that was the sole family income, and it was the model of employment for a good chunk of my constituency. Ironically, unemployment was higher and employment was lower than today, so when people look back to the golden age of Falkirk’s iron and related manufacturing industries, which were far greater then, they look back to a period of higher unemployment and lower mean family incomes. Generally, people were less well off.
Today, my constituency’s economy is much more service-based, and based on the fact that it is a 25-minute train ride from Falkirk to Edinburgh or Glasgow. I call the whole area, “Glasburgh”, because it is increasingly becoming one large economic entity of its own, rather like a large metropolitan area in England. Glasgow and Edinburgh are growing economies, and my constituency benefits hugely from that. Many commuters travel to service industry jobs in banks in Edinburgh and—to some degree—in public bodies in Glasgow. Many private sector organisations are based in Glasgow, too, but there is a general pattern whereby more people tend to travel to Edinburgh to work in the private sector.
The claimant count in Falkirk has decreased by 2.2 percentage points in the past half-dozen years. Falkirk is more reliant for employment on large enterprises than others, and many of my constituents are employed in the chemical industries. There is a refinery at Grangemouth in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), and he does a great deal of work with the companies in those industries. In particular, there is a very large company called INEOS, and it is expanding. It has a very successful business story, and the company employs many of my constituents. Unlike Members, they do not often care about travelling across boundaries to do their jobs, so they travel two or three miles out of my constituency and work in the chemical industry.
It is artificial to remove the chemical industry and related industries—the refinery—from the economic footprint of my constituency, or indeed of central Scotland, because if we consider the patterns of employment and the way in which the economy operates, those industries make all the difference to the local economy. If we discount the refinery and the effect of the chemical industries on the Falkirk economy, none the less, there is a varied pattern: a range of industries and companies, large and small, and their future will increasingly shape Falkirk’s future.
Falkirk has a programme called, “My Future’s in Falkirk”, which is a 10-year economic development initiative to transform the area into a diverse and modern economy, and also make it a nice place to stay. Last week, Falkirk acquired a lottery fund living landmarks grant of £25 million, the biggest ever awarded, which will go towards building two, big, nodding kelpies. A kelpie is a big horse, in case there is any doubt. It will be a fabulous landmark, sitting alongside the Falkirk wheel, which was built with funding of £80 million, much of which came from the lottery and from Europe. The wheel is one of Scotland’s foremost tourist landmarks. It does some good for the local economy, but these things take time, and the strategy of all local agencies, including the local authority, Falkirk council, Scottish Enterprise and private sector agencies that help develop the economy, will ultimately—one hopes—generate about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs. It had not gone to quite that extent until now.
The “My Future’s in Falkirk” initiative has generated a commitment, on paper at least, of £750 million of private-sector investment in the area. That is significantly ahead of its original target, which was to generate £200 million by the end of 2012. By then, 4,250 new jobs are expected. That is quite a specific projection, and I never know how those projections are made, but the significant expectation is that the initiative will generate a large number of jobs, and an additional £50 million a year is expected to be generated for the local economy.
I shall mention a couple of points about my constituency’s profile. The economy is significantly affected by Grangemouth’s refinery and chemical industry, but it is proving successful at diversification. It has its first strategic community plan, and it has notched up successes of late, with many more in sight—they are at the planning stage. The general idea is to make it clear far and wide that Falkirk is an excellent place to live, and that it has a growing economy. A masterplan has been unveiled for a 60-acre eco-friendly village. Planning is a devolved issue, and I shall not wax rhapsodic about it, but we must recognise that if one has a service economy, and many commuters hoping to travel to Edinburgh and Glasgow, where land values are high and prices are expensive, we must build houses where we can so that people can live in such locations and travel to work. We must strike a balance of course, because we want to encourage industries locally and people not just to live but to work locally.