Iron and Steel Board (Report)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 27 July 1962.

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Photo of Mr John Peyton Mr John Peyton , Yeovil 12:00, 27 July 1962

We recognise that the steel industry has seen the diminution of a very large source of its business owing to the present state of the shipping industry. The hon. Gentleman advocated that the Government should discriminate in applying restrictive measures to the economy. I am quoting him quite fairly, I think. In one sense, the Government do so in the establishment of development areas, but in the wider sense it is exceedingly difficult to discriminate within the boundaries of one fiscal area.

The next call from the hon. Gentleman was for a measure of planning as a solution to the problem. I do not resent his use of that word. The difficulty is that we should have to plan our own economy and the use of our resources and also exert some influence of the planning of the economies of other countries. It may be that it will help if we enter the Coal and Steel Community. The hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members urged that we should modernise the railways instead of scrapping them. Already we have devoted huge amounts to the modernisation of the railways. The hon. Member for Middlesbrough, West (Dr. Bray) and others, who thought that it would be right to expand the railways rather than run them down, must bear in mind that this country has limited resources and that to make a larger investment in that way than we have made already might be an unprofitable use of our resources.

The hon. Member for Hamilton reminded us of the coal stocking programme of 1959. Although he admitted the difference between the situation in the coal industry and that in the steel industry, it was plain that he hoped the Government would adopt a stocking policy for steel similar to that in the coal industry. But again we cannot ignore the fact that using resources for stocking purposes is a very expensive procedure, and that resources used in that way would not be available elsewhere in the economy where they are greatly needed.

I find the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, South (Sir H. d'Avigdor-Goldsmid) particularly difficult to answer. My hon. Friend reminded me of a remark which I once made about a pekinese and administered a sharp and possibly well-deserved bite. I am extremely sorry to have to say to him—he was concerned about the future of Richard Thomas and Baldwins—that I am in the uncomfortable position of not being able to give an answer which will satisfy him, or the hon. Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. M. Foot). I can only say that the Government's policy remains unchanged—