Mr George Grant: The hon. Gentleman said that he had worked for the NCB and referred to 120,000 miners in the Northern region. Perhaps he will understand the attitude of Labour Members to pit closures when he remembers that because of pit closures that have taken place over the past two decades the unemployment rate in the Northern region is now 18 per cent.
Mr George Grant: The hon. Gentleman referred to an area borrowing money on the open market. I should like to couple that remark with his earlier statement about miners in his constituency and what they think about pit closures. It has been recently proved by the National Union of Mineworkers that that is not the attitude. Only last February when the National Coal Board asked for a reduction of 10 per cent....
Mr George Grant: Nonsense.
Mr George Grant: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that an agreement already exists between the National Coal Board and the Central Electricity Generating Board that restricts increases in the price of coal? The agreement is that the price of coal will not exceed the rate of inflation, and it has worked well. However, while it is true that there are 42 million tonnes of coal stocked on the ground, the Government...
Mr George Grant: I think that my hon. Friend is being rather too kind in his approach. He has been talking about the economic approach to the problem but our main consideration should be the political approach. Does my hon. Friend recall that at the general election in 1979 the Tories promised to reduce taxes`? That was one of their main planks. The surtax payers' liability was reduced from 83 per cent. to 59...
Mr George Grant: I welcome this opportunity to debate the economic and social problems of the Northern region. The region has the worst unemployment in the whole of the United Kingdom, except for Northern Ireland. I shall be brief, and concentrate on two or three matters that affect my constituency. The Minister talked about the special measures that were introduced by the Government in 1979. Like...
Mr George Grant: I shall not go into that matter. I have been used to pit heaps all my life, but what is more important to me is full bellies. The building of the proposed power station is against the wishes of the local authorities. The Minister told those of us who represent constituencies in the North-East that we should tell people outside about the good aspects of the area to attract industrialist,...
Mr George Grant: I hope that my hon. Friend has followed my reasoning. I am not against nuclear power for the sake of being against it. I am posing the question: is it right to have a nuclear power station within a 10-mile radius—bearing in mind Three Mile Island—of such a heavily populated area? What I am proposing is a coal-fired power station. The power plant industry will get the benefits of a...
Mr George Grant: Maximum.
Mr George Grant: My right hon. Friend referred to pit closures. There is already evidence that in certain areas the National Coal Board is restricting recruitment because at the moment mounting stocks on the ground stand at just under 38 million tonnes. The youngsters coming into the industry for recruitment and training are the seedcorn for the future. It is ridiculous that recruitment has been stopped in...
Mr George Grant: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr George Grant: The order will be welcomed by the National Coal Board, the National Union of Mineworkers and, most of all, the cokework operatives. While the order is welcome, the cokeworkers do not want redundancy payments. They want Job security. The policy of the NUM is to look upon any closures of cokeworks in the same light as it looks upon any colliery closures. We ask the Minister and the Government...
Mr George Grant: Will the right hon. Gentleman, as a matter of urgency, give consideration to finding time to discuss the ridiculous state of affairs in Northumberland arising from public expenditure cuts? I am talking about life and limb. On snow clearing and preparatory salt spraying, the expenditure figure has been cut from £270,000 to £135,000. The instruction was given that no work on salt spraying or...
Mr George Grant: Will the Minister give way?
Mr George Grant: I do not want to take too much of the time of the Under-Secretary of State. The hon. Member for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer) raised this issue in a serious manner—I agree with every argument that he has advanced—because of his constituency interest. A great deal of money has been spent on research and development. That has not been confined to the Point of Ayr. There are many other areas...
Mr George Grant: May I support the hon. Gentleman?
Mr George Grant: The hon. Gentleman may think that he is presenting a reasonable case, but he is missing the point of the argument. If the Bill goes through and meets all the requirement that he is asking for, and council houses are sold—and, because of high mortgage rates, houses are being taken off the market—what will happen to the multitude who cannot afford to buy their own homes? There will be no...
Mr George Grant: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr George Grant: The Secretary of State talks of the need to dispel fears about pit closures. He also mentioned competition. Does he accept that the fears are real? Will he examine the stocks of undistributed coal? There are 3 million tonnes more this year than last year. He must understand that the fears are genuine, especially since he has introduced financial restrictions in the Bill.
Mr George Grant: On the question of coal production, the Prime Minister has talked with forked tongue. Is she aware that the world study group, WOCOL, which has been meeting for 18 months and comprises the 16 leading industrial nations, has stressed the need to increase coal production threefold by 1990? Without going into the merits or demerits of the case, I ask the Prime Minister to read the deliberations...
