Orders of the Day — Ports Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 December 1969.

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Photo of Mr Roy Hughes Mr Roy Hughes , Newport (Monmouthshire/Gwent) 12:00, 18 December 1969

The hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Edward M. Taylor) has whipped himself up into an irate state. I do not wish to hurt him any further, but I welcome the Bill. It has been apparent for a very long time that something fundamental needed to be done to this industry so vital to our export tirade, upon which we as a nation depend for a living.

In recent years the industry has been subject to many inquiries. It reminds me in some ways of another industry with which I had some connection, the coal mining industry, which was also subject to many inquiries, commissions and so on before it was eventually nationalised in 1947.

Sir Arthur Kirby, who knows the ports industry intimately, said four years ago that had we set out to devise the most difficult way to work our ports we could not have succeeded better. That is a pretty formidable indictment. If anyone had needed any further convincing, he should have been convinced after listening to the masterly exposition of my hon. Friend the member for Poplar (Mr. Mikardo), but, alas, the hon. Member for Cathcart obviously is not.

The industry has developed by historical accident, so that we have various types of port ownership and considerable differences in the powers and constitutions of the port authorities, fragmentation of responsibility for port functions, and a whole conglomeration of agencies and documents at every stage of port life.

My conclusion is that any fair-minded person should agree that the measures advocated by the Government are necessary, and that the only opposition could be on narrow doctrinaire lines, such as the type of economic doctrines that have been advocated by the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell).

My only criticism of the Bill, like that of my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar, is that it does not go quite far enough. It is a watered-down version of the proposals in the Deposited Paper 3830 of July, 1967. The criterion then was 100,000 tons of foreign trade handled annually, and the total number of ports was to be 72. But now, as a result of the White Paper of January, 1969, and the proposals in the Bill, the criterion is the handling of a total trade of 5 million tons a year, and consequently the number of ports has been reduced to 44.

One small criticism is that some of the ports left out are those that are profitable and rapidly expanding, such as Felixstowe and Shoreham. Many people intimately connected with the industry are asking whether this could not lead to a further fragmentation of the industry. Could not my right hon. Friend the Minister consider requiring the new National Ports Authority to present plans in a short time for taking over those ports as well? If not, why not? According to the previous Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich (Mr. Marsh), when a port develops to 5 million tons of trade annually it will not necessarily be taken over. That is not satisfactory, and should be reconsidered.

I have tended so far to deal with the rather dismal aspects of the port situation. But there are certain bright spots. I am particularly interested in, and proud of, the South Wales ports which, with the exception of Milford Haven, are owned by the publicly-controlled British Transport Docks Board. With the decline of the coal trade in South Wales, they were in a very parlous condition. I am glad to say that they have been rescued and are now an efficient organisation. A large measure of their success results from their being organised as a group. This cannot be over-emphasised.

I am glad that the success of the South Wales ports is recognised even by the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Gibson-Watt), who is his party's principal spokesman on Welsh affairs. This means that so far we have already had two Front Bench speeches. He said that we would have London decisions. But I am sure that he is aware that the existing South Wales ports of the British Transport Docks Board already have their headquarters in London. But they have a good deal of local autonomy and efficient management in South Wales, and I am sure that that will continue. It was particularly welcome to me to see that he is now such an ardent advocate of public ownership. What is the Biblical quotation?