Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 5 Rhagfyr 1973.
I commiserate with the hon. Member for Maidstone (Mr. John Wells) in having such particularly nasty and difficult political opponents.
I refer to the speech of the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Tope) only to say that I find his approach as confusing as that taken by my party. His speech was presumably on behalf of the Liberal Party. On the one hand he says that he cannot understand why guarantees are necessary and on the other he wishes to reduce the financial viability of the Bill, thereby making those guarantees even more necessary. Of course, guarantees would be necessary for the kind of financial structure the Government have in mind. It is obvious to anyone who is aware of the risks of making long-term assessments of an expensive business venture that this kind of guarantee would be necessary.
The approach of my party to this is somewhat confused and hesitant. In that I am disappointed. I do not support this kind of Bill but I congratulate the Government for producing their Bill. It is the kind of Bill that a Tory Government would produce for this kind of venture. It relies heavily on two private firms and uses Government money to guarantee those firms. It lacks that kind of control and direction of what I consider to be an important national project that we would get from only complete State participation and control. It is unfortunate that we should be lagging behind the views of British Rail or the National Union of Railwaymen on a project of major national importance.
This is a matter upon which we could give a lead. I find it strange that we, committed to further nationalisation, have not sufficient confidence in the future of the railways to make us want to strengthen them and make them more viable and better equipped to deal with future problems and to develop as a modern railway should, and could, in the light of this important link with the Continent.
Presumably, I shall be attacked in my constituency for making this speech, because it is now fashionable to relate expenditure on a project of this kind to parochial matters. There is a fashionable political doctrine which says that any money that is spent elsewhere could, by some magic, have been spent in one's own constituency: if an airport is not built at Maplin, the money can therefore be spent on improving the paving stones in Blaenau Ffestiniog. I do not accept that doctrine. I believe that there are certain national investments which we should make. One of the most serious aspects of our politics today is not that we have doubts about the nuts and bolts of this Bill but that we have doubts about our own capacity as a nation to carry on with an important project of this type. I was surprised to hear my hon. Friend and colleague the Member for Wrexham (Mr. Ellis), for whom I have great respect, doubting that we have the technical abilities to produce a tunnel of this kind. That is a staggering proposition, and it shows what is wrong with our industry today when these doubts can be raised about the technical capacity of our engineering industry.
Also, I find it strange that we as a party have no clear picture of the kind of improvement that such a link could bring about in our railway system. We have to face the fact that not every nationalised industry is popular at the present time. One of my party's major problems in selling a programme of further nationalisation is the unpopularity in consumer terms of existing nationalised industries. Although I have been in dispute with British Rail about the preservation of railway lines in my constituency, I must say that the operation of the railway system in this country is something of which we can be proud. It is one of the successful nationalised industries. The people of this country, particularly if they travel on the Continent, recognise that we have a first-class rail sysem which should be improved.
A statement in support of the aims, aspirations and development of the railway system by providing this important link is to be expected from a party such as mine which is committed to nationalisation, but I do not accept the Government's structure for doing this job as outlined in this Bill. As I said, I believe that it should be part and parcel of a State railway system, and we should be committed to a rail-only tunnel which is State-financed and State-run.
There will be great concern in two areas about this proposal. There will be concern in the regions about a polarisation of development in the South-East. That is inevitable in this case, and I accept that. There will also be concern about the environment in the area where the tunnel will be built and where the marshalling yards, and so on, are to go. I hope that the control over the development project which is being underaken by Rio Tinto-Zinc will be very close indeed.
I would not accept a development being done by RTZ. A development of this importance should be done by the State. I have some experience of RTZ in a development operation. The company was proposing to mine in my constituency, in the middle of a national park. I also have practical experience of dealing with the Shell Oil Company in Anglesey. If I had to choose between their operations—despite all the criticism of Shell Oil, a great deal of it unfair, in the Sunday Times—I would much prefer to deal with Shell Oil as a development organisation than RTZ. The statements that I personally had from RTZ, and the statements that were made to the Press about the company's intentions, varied in accordance with the state of public opinion, and I do not have the confidence which the Minister obviously has in the responsibility of RTZ in dealing with a matter of this kind, which has very important environmental considerations. If I were a member for any of the constituencies that could be affected by RTZ's operations I should be very careful indeed about any undertakings that I had from RTZ.
The building of this tunnel is an important step, not only in enabling this nation to show confidence in its ability to carry out a major imaginative project, but also in cementing the relationship which should be developing between this country and the Continent of Europe. It will play a major part in improving trade, and in improving the railways within this country. It will also play a major part in the easier handling of goods, particularly between this country and France. I shall not enter into the problems that arise in the handling of goods between this country and France. If we have a rail-only link it will also play a major part in improving the competition costs, not only for freight but for people who wish to cross to Europe. It will make the cross-Channel boats more competitive. I must declare an interest here. I am a small shareholder in European Ferries, and I became a shareholder in order to gain the advantage of being able to take a car across the Channel at cut rates.