Lord Tebbit's Thatcherite exhortation in government to the unemployed to get on their bikes and find work was as offensive as it was unrealistic. It was doomed to failure. The evidence continues to suggest that people do not travel noticeable distances to work. If unemployment is to be reduced in the Scottish blackspots jobs must be targeted in these areas. It is not clever to use scarce state funds to pump more aid into areas with low unemployment such as Inverness or Livingston when there are few jobs in other parts of the country such as north Glasgow where as much as 15% of the population is out of work.

The Scottish Office's initiative to entice small businesses to come into, or expand in, five areas of high unemployment and deprivation by tying together and boosting packages of aid aimed at encouraging them to take on people who live in these areas is, therefore, greatly welcomed. It is a laudable objective, but it will have to be strictly defined and rigorously policed to ensure that local people and their communities benefit long-term. Job security is not created by signing blank regional-assistance cheques, as Hyundai and Lite-On have shown.