Emergency Powers

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 January 1974.

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Photo of Mr Kevin McNamara Mr Kevin McNamara , Kingston upon Hull North 12:00, 10 January 1974

I have two points to raise in relation to the emergency powers which have some bearing on the debate earlier tonight and which are important. They relate in particular to Regulation 17 concerning electricity supply.

Yesterday, at a meeting arranged by my colleagues and myself with leading trade union officials in my city, concern was expressed about the way in which electricity was being apportioned on so many days per week. The officials expressed a preference for electricity to be rationed on a meter system and spread over the whole week rather than for a smaller number of days.

I suggest that the powers in Regulation 17 should be used in this way in order to solve the problems particularly afflicting small firms which do not have their own private generators and which do not use electricity continuously, but only for limited purposes. The trade union officials have spoken to many employers in the area and believe that not only would this be more economical in the use of electricity and keep more people in work, but it would be of great benefit to the country.

There is a firm in my constituency which exports all of its production and referring to its export dates it says: We cannot meet these dates on a three-day week and, as our usage of electricity is minimal, lighting, which we can get over by spreading our week over six days, heating, we have oil and are allowed to use our units, but, we must have power to fill our air tanks as we use air tools. We have two compressors, one to give a back up service to the other and, apart from initial usage in the morning, use very little electricity except for topping up our air cylinders. This is a problem particularly affecting the small firms which use a great deal of labour, much of it skilled, and a minimum amount of electricity for a very few tools. These firms want their electricity supplied over a five-day period and checked by a meter. That would be easy to arrange with the electricity boards which could keep adequate check in the way that they do at the moment.

The proposal would ensure continuity of employment. Our financial and industrial problems will not disappear merely with the ending of the miners' overtime ban. The problems are deep-seated and it seems foolish to throw away our foreign markets by not adopting a more rational and sensible way of rationing electricity.

I urge the Home Secretary in consultation with his colleagues seriously to consider giving firms their ration of electricity spread over a week. This would be a more sensible way of dealing with the problem and would have less socially divisive consequences than the policies currently adopted.