Orders of the Day — Nationalised Industries

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 9:30 pm on 10 November 1981.

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Photo of Mr Hamish Gray Mr Hamish Gray , Ross and Cromarty 9:30, 10 November 1981

The right hon. Gentleman was rightly concerned about the "Britishness" of the new BNOC exploration company. Our aim is to establish a dynamic new British exploration company in which the British public will have a real share. We shall ensure that the new company's articles of association contain such safeguards as are necessary to prevent a takeover bid that would not be in the national interest.

The right hon. Member for Leeds, South (Mr. Rees) and the hon. Member for Dunfermline (Mr. Douglas) raised several points. The right hon. Member for Bristol, South-East was a member of a Labour Government who sold no less than 17·3 per cent. of BP shares in 1977, and he was also a member of an earlier Labour Government who reduced their holding in BP to 48 per cent.—a holding below the 51 per cent. that has been so close to the right hon. Gentleman's heart. We must assume that that was one of those occasions on which he found that collective responsibility was acceptable.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has described the Government's plans for the North Sea oil interests of the BNOC and the BGC. He has set out the facts—facts that answer many of the criticisms levelled against our proposals. It is unfortunate that Labour Members have chosen to ignore those facts, and have persisted in pursuing ill-founded arguments.

Much discussion has centred on the BNOC, so let me begin there. The legislation that we shall introduce has straightforward objectives. It will allow the introduction of private capital into the corporation's oil-producing business, the transfer of that business from the public to the private sector and the creation of a new, independent oil company based on the North Sea. Our purpose is to fulfil the pledge given to the British people that they should have the chance to share directly in the oil wealth of the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Mr. Eggar) rightly suggested that there should be the widest possible distribution. Of course we agree with what he said. By doing that we shall remove another large area of unnecessary State involvement in the economy.

My hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) supports reliance on private capital rather than on the Treasury. The defenders of State intervention and State monopoly would like the Government to have a finger in every pie. They wish to preserve and expand the public sector, with its stifling influence and inevitable inefficiencies. An industry that is successful—as is the BNOC—is thought to vindicate all those that are not.

We disagree. There is no room for State ownership in industries that are already doing a good job. The oil industry is a classic example. It was private enterprise—the right hon. Member for Bristol, South-East should realise it, because he was Secretary of State during much of the time when the first oil came ashore, and thereafter—that discovered the potential of the North Sea, and it was private capital that brought the oil ashore. The private sector oil companies have invested billions of pounds in the United Kingdom, both offshore and onshore. They have created many thousands of jobs—there are at present more than 100,000 jobs connected with the North Sea—and they have paid fair wages and fair taxes in support of the public sector. Above all, they have made this country self-sufficient in oil, working in one of the most hostile environments in the world. Yet we are supposed to believe—if we listen to the right hon. Gentleman—that all this time the private sector has been working against the national interest.

The private sector continues to be the decisive factor in the North Sea. Indeed, it virtually is the North Sea. [Interruption.] Opposition Members would laugh on the other side of their faces if the jobs in their constituencies were not there—jobs that are provided by the private sector. It provides 90 per cent. of current oil production and holds nearly 80 per cent. of licensed exploration acreage. It is by far the major source of our oil wealth.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Mr. Skeet) reminded the House of his participation in the Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Bill 1975. Although the amendment to which he referred was not accepted at the time, he will be delighted that we are now going some way towards doing what he wished.