Northern Ireland Economy

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Scott. I welcome the opportunity to debate the Northern Ireland economy and I am very grateful for the contributions of all those who have participated in this important debate. As hon. Members are aware, across the UK we face difficult economic conditions and a tough challenge to restore the UK to prosperity. Critical to achieving that ambition is tackling the record deficit that we inherited—not that one would have noticed that point from the speech made by the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith)—and rebalancing our economy away from debt-fuelled consumption and public spending towards sustainable private sector growth. The Northern Ireland economy faces similar challenges, but recent history also means that it faces a different set of circumstances compared with the rest of the UK. That point has been made by a number of speakers, including the Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson). Although the years of peace following the Good Friday agreement have seen prosperity on the rise in Northern Ireland, it still faces a number of difficulties. The Government are concerned that employment in Northern Ireland is overly reliant on the public sector. Private sector employment in Northern Ireland lags considerably behind the rest of the UK. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that whereas 61% of people aged 16 to 64 are employed in the private sector in England, only 45% are in the private sector in Northern Ireland. However, I am optimistic about the future of Northern Ireland. As we have heard, Northern Ireland already attracts a large share of UK foreign direct investment, and that is generating new employment. The Government, and in particular the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, have been tireless in promoting more opportunities for private sector growth and employment as part of our commitment to rebalance the Northern Ireland economy. I doubt if there have been many, if any, Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland who have shown the focus and energy that the current Secretary of State has on that point. Indeed, he made an important speech this week on that very subject.