Films Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:07 pm on 19 November 1984.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Tom Clarke Tom Clarke , Monklands West 8:07, 19 November 1984

—so the hon. Gentleman should be somewhat less churlish in his own views. When I worked in the film industry, it was my practice to edit ruthlessly, and in preparing my speech I have attempted to follow that rule. If there are interruptions, I may be unable to keep my promise to my hon. Friends to be no longer than 10 minutes.

This has been an interesting and wide-ranging debate. I am sure that those who have given a great deal to the British film industry—and will no doubt be following our proceedings—will feel that, almost for the first time in recent years, we have addressed ourselves to the real problems that the British film industry is facing.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) asked me to say— I am delighted to respond to his request—that when the Monopolies and Mergers Commission expressed its views on the industry, it paid tribute to the Glasgow experiment.

References have been made to the various Ministers who have been involved in the exercise. I shall not be saying much that is flattering about the White Paper or the Bill. With the greatest respect to the Minister of State, I have to note that, in dealing with the film industry, all the Ministers concerned have shown themselves to be accident-prone. I am glad that the Minister has been involved for only six weeks. I can imagine the damage that would have been caused if he had assumed his responsibilities earlier. Mr. Iain Sproat spent some time on this issue and it is clear that his influence on Government thinking was considerable. It is clear also that the people of Aberdeen had a greater affection and affinity for the film industry than Mr. Sproat. The right hon. Member for Mole Valley (Mr. Baker), the Minister for Local Government, made his contribution and his fate was even worse. It is now his task to dismantle local government. He will meet even greater opposition and even less success than his predecessor.

I was granted an Adjournment debate on the film industry before the summer recess and the Minister who had responsibilities for the industry made some comments which, even tonight, are worthy of reflection. The White Paper and the Bill will be damaging to the film industry but the events of the recent past have also been damaging. When the White Paper was published on 19 July, questions were asked by my hon. Friends and myself and the then Minister, the right hon. Member for Mole Valley, suggested that my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) had relied on leaks for his information. I asked: Does he think that Mr. Hassan depended on the same leaks when he resigned from the NFFC, given that most of his predictions proved to be correct? However, the Minister observed: His predictions did not prove to be correct. Mr. Hassan resigned from the NFFC because he wanted to go into private film production, which is an expression of great confidence on his part."—[Official Report, 19 July 1984; Vol. 64, c. 527.]

If Mr. Hassan were present, I am sure that the last thing that he would say is that he has confidence in the White Paper or in the policies that are being put before the House. I deeply regret the damage which has been inflicted, which was reported in the Daily Telegraph, of all newspapers, on 26 July, a few days after the then Minister with responsibilities for these matters spoke so confidently. Even the Daily Telegraph observed: The Government's film policy unveiled last week will fail to solve any of the problems of the industry, Mr. Mamoun Hassan, managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation predicted.", It is clear that the British film industry has little confidence in the Bill. The Government should think seriously before they take up the time of the House of Commons in Committee.

The Government's policy will not succeed because they have not considered seriously the industry's real problems. The Eady levy was out of date and we know that not as many people are going to cinemas these days. Audiences began to decline after the war. Film production is having its problems in spite of excellent personnel within the film industry. The Government have failed to identify the industry's real problems, and it is surprising that they took over two years to produce a White Paper of 26 pages—in other words, a page a month. If that is the productivity that we can expect from the Government, it is no wonder that there is so much wrong with British industry and that the Minister has been so preoccupied with other matters.

The Government are going wrong because they seem to be suggesting that monetarism and movie making are one and the same thing. Monetarism and movie making do not match. We have heard properly and rightly from hon. Members on both sides of the House of the success of film industries in other countries. It must be recognised that we are facing serious competition from countries such as America and Australia. It comes also from countries that we would not normally associate with film making. It seems that those who are involved in our film industry are having their hands tied behind their backs by the Government. Given the effect that that will have on the livelihoods of those people, that is almost unforgivable.

It is interesting that the White Paper refers to only two films-"Chariots of Fire" and "Ghandhi". We know that the producers of those films would not approach the British industry in the same way that the Government have chosen. As my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody) said, Sir Richard Attenborough spent 20 years trying to persuade the British film industry that it would be feasible to produce a film on Gandhi.

I am sure that it will be acknowledged on both sides of the House that Scotland has been making a contribution to the film industry recently. I represent a Scottish constituency and I shall say something about Scottish film making experience. Scotland has produced Bill Forsyth, perhaps the most acclaimed new film-making talent in British cinema for many years. His work has been so successful that even the Government might have heard of it, and that represents a considerable achievement. This proves that artistic and cultural successes are compatible and that films that are apparently the most local in setting and subject matter and the closest to their roots are most likely to have world wide appeal. We should base our consideration of the film industry on an examination of films like his and do our utmost to facilitate the emergence of more Bill Forsyths.

The Scottish Film Council is involved in production and training, the promotion of film education the work of the Scottish Film Archive and the development of new patterns of exhibition through regional film theatres and societies. The Scottish Film Council manages to carry out its wide range of work on an annual grant of £338,000. This is excellent value for money but we must ensure that the traditional Scottish virtue of thrift is not carried too far. The council will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year and I am sure that both sides of the House will wish to congratulate it on that achievement. I understand that the Lord Provost of Glasgow will do so next week. The council should receive a much enhanced grant to enable it to do even more good work in projecting the image of film making in Scotland.

Many films have been referred to during the debate and we have all paraded our favourites before the House. I liked "The Gold Rush". As I look at the Government Front Bench, consider their policy on films and reflect on the White Paper, I think of the scene which shows a party taking place inside a cabin which is slipping gradually over the edge of a cliff. It seems that the Government's role is to encourage the slippage of the cabin over the edge and not to stop it. That is the direction in which they are moving and consequently they can expect the utmost opposition from Opposition Members.